In a Blue Moon
by bainnebui
Summary: Eleven years after the battle of Hogwarts and Teddy Lupin is beginning his journey. Despite growing up without them, the actions of his parents impact his life in more ways than one. Navigating his first year at Hogwarts was never going to be easy.
1. Retracing Their Steps

The platform was busier than he expected, in fact, he had rarely seen this many young witches and wizards in the one place before. Children hugged their parents goodbye, others ran off as quickly as they could, eager to be reunited with their friends.

As eager as Teddy Lupin had been to finally go to Hogwarts, now that the time had come he felt frozen in place.

"I think it's time to get on board, Teddy," his Gran said to him quietly. She had a protective hand on his shoulder as she surveyed the platform. Her dark hair, still showing no signs of grey, was pulled back into a tight bun and her dark hooded eyes were narrowed as she scanned the crowds. She had a regal air inherited from her Black ancestry. Onlookers might have mistaken her for her sister, but Teddy knew her as the warm, kind and loving woman who had raised him.

"I'm going to miss you so much," she said pulling him into a hug. Rather than trying to squirm free from her embrace as he had recently began to do, instead Teddy squeezed her tightly. When she let go, Teddy turned to say goodbye to the other parental figure in his life, his godfather.

"You're going to love Hogwarts, Teddy," Harry said smiling. "The best years of your life."

"Let's hope your time there is a lot safer than your godfather's," Andromeda said wearily.

Harry smiled. "There's nothing to worry about any more."

Teddy was aware, as he usually was when he was in public with his godfather, that people were staring at them. Harry had obviously become so accustomed to being stared at that he didn't let it bother him. It did however, make Teddy rather uncomfortable.

"Watch the hair, Ted," Harry muttered. Teddy immediately became aware that he was changing his hair colour without realising. He made sure that it was his natural colour. His Gran simply rolled her eyes at Harry's warning.

"It's better to keep these things a secret, Andromeda," Harry said. "It could save him one day."

"You've been fighting Dark Wizards for too long, Harry," Andromeda said. "I've raised one metamorphmagus and let me tell you, there's no keeping it a secret where teenagers are concerned."

The large red steam engine next to them sounded its horn, alerting stragglers to the imminent departure of the train.

"Best be getting onto the train, Teddy," Harry said hugging him one last time.

"Stay safe, Teddy," his Gran said embracing him tightly. "I know your mum and dad would be so proud of you right now." She released him and as he turned to wave at his Gran and Harry one last time, he could swear that he saw tears in her eyes.

Once the train left the platform, Teddy became distinctly aware that he didn't know a single soul on the Hogwarts Express. So rarely in his life had he not been surrounded by people who he had known since he was a small child.

He knew that the Hogwarts Express was where Harry had met Ron, his best friend. Teddy couldn't help but feel that it was important for him to find friends on the train. However, he quickly realised finding a compartment with a seat would be harder than he thought.

He had almost reached the end of the train when he finally opened a door to reveal a carriage that only housed two occupants, a boy and a girl. It was a stroke of luck that they also appeared to be new.

"Hi, are you two first years?" Teddy asked. They both nodded. "Mind if I sit?"

"Yeah, go for it," said the boy cheerily.

"I'm Teddy," he said introducing himself.

"I'm Fionn," said the boy. "It's an Irish name," he said quickly noticing Teddy's confusion. It was then that Teddy noticed that the boy did have a rather thick Irish accent.

"This is Chloe," he said gesturing towards the girl next to him. She smiled at Teddy. She had bright blue eyes and long blonde hair tied in a high ponytail.

"Have you always known about magic?" she asked.

"Yeah, all my family is magic," Teddy said.

"Christ, that's a relief," Fionn said. "Both of us only found out we were magic a few months ago. We were hoping to meet someone who can explain some things to us."

"You're both muggle-borns! That's wicked. Muggles are so interesting. How do they live without magic? It's crazy," Teddy asked rapidly.

"Not as crazy as finding out magic is real!"

Teddy chatted happily to Fionn and Chloe. They were asking him very strange questions about the wizarding world that he had never thought of before. The conversation eventually shifted to Hogwarts houses.

"I've read about them," Chloe said excitedly. "Where do you think you'll be?"

"I think I'm a Gryffindor," Fionn said confidently.

"What makes you so sure?" Teddy asked, although, having only known Fionn for about an hour, he didn't doubt that he would be.

Fionn shrugged. "I've asked all my family and they said they think I'm brave. I'm not smart or ambitious or – what's the other one?"

"Hufflepuff's take the rest," Chloe said. "I don't know where I belong." She looked suddenly upset.

"Don't worry about it, Chloe," Teddy said in an attempt to cheer her up. "All the houses are good in their own ways." She smiled at him.

"Where do you want to go, Teddy?" Fionn asked.

"My mum was a Hufflepuff and my dad was in Gryffindor so either one of those would be great," he said. "Oh, and my Gran was a Slytherin but I don't think I'll end up there."

In truth, Teddy wanted nothing more than to be in Gryffindor like his dad and Harry.

"Does it usually depend on your family?" Chloe asked.

"Sometimes, but everyone is different." This was something that his Gran had been telling him for months. She knew that he wanted to be in Gryffindor like his father but she wanted to protect him from disappointment.

The carriage door slid open and two twin girls who appeared to be first years walked in.

"Are you first years?" one of the girls asked. She didn't wait for a response. "I'm Isabella and this is my sister Emmeline. We're trying to find all of the first years before we arrive at the castle."

"It's always better to be prepared," her sister Emmeline continued. "We have a rather small year so it will be easy to find everyone."

"Why is our year so small?" Fionn asked.

Emmeline and Isabella exchanged a glance. "Well, isn't it obvious?" Emmeline said patronisingly. Fionn looked at Teddy for an answer who looked just as confused as he did.

"Eleven years ago You-Know-Who was at the height of his power," Isabella explained in a rather pompous voice. "Very few witches and wizards wanted to have children during times like that."

"So our year is very small," continued Emmeline. "I think half the year must be muggle-born."

"We're muggle-born," Chloe said.

"All three of you?" Isabella asked raising an eyebrow.

"Of course, _he_ isn't," Emmeline said gesturing towards Teddy. "You're Teddy Lupin. You were with Harry Potter on the platform."

"Err… yeah. How did you know who I was?" Teddy asked taken aback.

"We read the Daily Prophet society pages," Isabella said. "It's important to know about the important people in our society."

"Right, well lovely to meet you," Teddy said. He didn't like how they knew his name. He knew Harry was famous but he didn't realise how that would affect him.

"We haven't got what we've come here for. What are your names?" Isabella demanded abruptly.

"Chloe Shaw."

"Fionn O'Brien."

"We'll see you at the sorting," Emmeline said as they left in a flurry. "Perhaps we'll all be in Ravenclaw together."

"Are all witches like that?" Fionn asked, a slightly stunned expression on his face.

"I hope not," Teddy mumbled.

"How did she know your name?" Chloe asked. "Are you famous or something?" Teddy groaned. He was hoping that Chloe and Fionn had somehow missed that part of the interaction.

"I'm not famous," Teddy said. "My godfather and a lot of my family are though. He came with me to the platform, they saw me with him."

"Why is he famous?" Fionn asked curiously. "Would we know of him? I didn't realise that wizards had their own celebrities."

"I think I read the name Harry Potter in one of the history books," Chloe said thoughtfully.

Teddy paused. How did he explain in simple terms why Harry was so famous?

"He's not famous amongst muggles, so you've probably never heard of him. There was a war, well two wars. The last one ended about eleven years ago. Harry defeated the dark wizard and ended the war. He's a hero." He said the last part rather proudly. He caught sight of Fionn and Chloe's faces. They looked perturbed rather than impressed by his words as he had expected.

"I didn't know there were wars in the magical world," Fionn said.

"I read a bit about them," Chloe said softly. "The last war sounded really awful. So many people died in battle."

Teddy nodded. "Harry says that my par – the people who died, fought so that we can be safe. I'm sure you'll hear a lot more about it when we're at Hogwarts."

"It is safe now, isn't it?" Chloe asked, worry evident on her face.

"Hogwarts is the safest place to be," Teddy assured her. "There's no danger anymore."

Rather than dwelling on the war, Teddy changed the subject to what he had heard of the castle and the different classes they would be taking. Having never heard even the most mundane details about life in the magical world, they hung onto his every word. Teddy enjoyed the rest of the journey, and found himself getting on very well with Fionn and Chloe despite their different backgrounds. He even found himself questioning some surprisingly strange aspects of the muggle world. The fact that he had never watched television seemed to shock and amaze Fionn and Chloe.

They soon arrived at Hogsmeade Station. Despite it only being the 1st of September, the air was chilly and the students could see their breath as they huddled together.

"Firs' years this way!" Teddy recognised the booming voice instantly.

"Hello Hagrid!" he greeted the half-giant. Hagrid's face broke into a wide smile.

"Teddy, m'boy!" he boomed. "Harry's warned me ter keep an eye on you," he said with a wink. "Not that you'll be any trouble!"

Teddy grinned back at Hagrid and introduced him to Fionn and Chloe. Chloe seemed quite terrified of Hagrid, who, Teddy had to agree, might seem rather frightening if you had never met him before.

"I didn't know giants existed," Fionn whispered as he sat into one of the boats with Chloe and Teddy. "What's next, trolls?"

"Every mythical creature that you've ever heard of exists," said the fourth member of their boat. A small boy with a mop of blonde hair had joined them.

"What like fairies and mermaids?" asked Chloe, eyes wide in amazement.

"Yes, and goblins and vampires and werewolves." Chloe's eyes widened again, but this time in fear.

The boat had set sail at this point. They were in the middle of the Great Lake. The rounded a corner and emerged through some thick willow branches. The sight that met Teddy took his breath away. It was better than he had ever imagined. He had been to the castle before but had never come over the lake. The view was one he would remember forever.

The shortly arrived to the castle and Hagrid ushered them inside the castle. All of the first years were spinning their heads around, eagerly trying to drink in as much of their surroundings as possible.

They gathered in a room next to the Great Hall. It was only then that Teddy realised how few students there were in his year. There was hardly more than twenty people in the room, each looking more nervous than the last.

"I'm supposed to tell you all about the Hogwarts houses," Hagrid said. "There's Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. All o' them are good, no matter what ye hear. Work hard and you'll earn points but if yer bad ye'll lose 'em. Got it? I think that's all. Professor Flitwick will take ye in a mo'."

Sure enough, moments later the large doors swung open and a tiny wizard came out. "Welcome first years! I'm Professor Flitwick," he squeaked. "I trust Hagrid explained everything necessary?"

The first years nodded and murmured a response.

"Excellent!" Professor Flitwick beamed. He opened the large door leading to the Great Hall. "We're all ready in here, Hagrid" he chirped. "Come on first years, let's get to it."

As they walked through the Great Hall, the other first years around Teddy began swivelling their heads around and craning their necks in an attempt to take in all of their surroundings. The Great Hall truly was magnificent.

Despite the wonder that surrounded him, at the back of his mind, Teddy couldn't shake the thought that this was the room in which Harry had defeated Voldemort. His parents had died there. He tried to shake himself from his thoughts and stay in the moment. As he did, his stomach was yet again in knots as he thought about the sorting.

Professor Flitwick stood at the top of the hall in front of the staff table. Teddy scanned the staff table and was happy to see some familiar faces. He caught Neville's – Professor Longbottom's as he should now call him – eye and he gave him a cheery wave. Teddy managed a grin back at him.

Professor Flitwick stepped forward a placed a battered old hat on a stool. The students in the Hall sat up intently staring at the hat, as if waiting for it to do something. Suddenly, the brim of the hat broke open and the hat began to sing.

Once the hat had finished its song, the room broke out in applause. Teddy glanced around at the other first years. They were all looking as surprised by the singing hat as he was. How had nobody told him that all they had to do was try on an old hat.

Once the applause had died down, Professor Flitwick shuffled forward and the first student was called up to be sorted.

"Cornelius Birch."

A tall boy with hair neatly combed to one side walked to the front of the Hall. The room fell into silence as he took sat onto the stool, the Sorting Hat covering his eyes. The silence that encapsulated the Great Hall was deafening. About thirty seconds later the hat shouted;

"Ravenclaw!"

Applause broke out as Cornelius joined the Ravenclaw table and was greeted with pats on the back by his new housemates.

Helena Bulstrode, a rather burly looking girl was sorted into Slytherin next followed by Hugh Corner to Ravenclaw and Arthur Crow to Slytherin.

"Emmeline Forsythe." One of the twins who had spoken to Teddy on the train walked up to the stool. She gave her sister a parting glance before striding with confidence towards the Sorting Hat, her long ponytail swishing behind her. The hat had barely touched her head when it shouted "Ravenclaw!" Emmeline skipped towards the Ravenclaw table. Teddy noticed that her sister Isabelle looked considerably paler.

"Isabelle Forsythe." Whatever nerves she had been feeling had vanished and Isabelle glided towards the top of the room as her sister had done. The hat took no longer to sort her and she was happily joining Emmeline at the Ravenclaw table within seconds.

Christopher Lehmann became the first Gryffindor before Teddy's name was called.

"Teddy Lupin."

In the moment, all Teddy could focus on was keeping his hair the one colour. He wouldn't allow his abilities to betray his emotions. He walked to the top of the room and Professor Flitwick greeted him with a cheery smile.

"Teddy Lupin, I can't believe you're here already," he said with a sad smile. Teddy gave him a nervous smile in return and sat on the stool. Teddy's eyes scanned the crowd before they were blocked from his view as the hat covered his eyes.

" _Well, well, well_ ," a voice echoed inside his head. " _It's been quite a while since I've had a Lupin on this stool_. _What are we going to do about you?_ "

Teddy felt the need to respond but he was left not knowing what to say. What was the hat going to do with him?

" _You're a complicated one, Teddy Lupin,"_ the hat said slowly. _"Very intelligent, loyal and kind, like your mother, ambitious like your Grandmother, and brave like your father."_

" _Gryffindor,"_ Teddy heard himself thinking. _"I want to be in Gryffindor."_

" _You've got a lot to live up to, Mr Lupin. It's not going to be easy. Only one place for you…_ GRYFFINDOR! _"_

The crowd of students once again erupted in applause and Teddy could feel himself grinning from ear to ear. He joined the Gryffindor table and at once felt like he belonged. Several of the older students patted him on the back and welcomed him to the house. He sat next to Christopher Lehmann, the only other Gryffindor first year up until that point. He beamed at Christopher who then turned away to watch the next students be sorted.

Several other students were sorted and had joined their tables before Fionn's name was called. The tall boy half walked and half ran to the top of the hall. He caught Teddy's eye just before the hat went over his eyes and Teddy was surprised to see that he looked rather calm. Perhaps it was because he was a muggle-born and had no familial ties to any house. But Teddy thought it was something else. Fionn had seemed so confident that he would be in Gryffindor. Would that confidence be realised?

"GRYFFINDOR!"

Within a couple of seconds, the hat had made its decision. Fionn leapt from the stool and joined the Gryffindor table, sitting opposite Teddy.

"I knew I was a Gryffindor!" he exclaimed, eyes alight with excitement.

"Didn't doubt you, mate!" Teddy replied, happy that he would have at least one person who he got on well with in his house.

Several more names were called before another Gryffindor was sorted. Amina Shafiq – Teddy could have sworn he recognised the name Shafiq from somewhere. She was a petite girl with dark eyes, heavy brows and long black hair in a plait down her back. She had looked mildly shocked to be sorted into Gryffindor and had looked over towards the Slytherin table. She joined her fellow Gryffindors and Teddy gave her a warm smile which she returned rather shyly.

The fifth and final Gryffindor to join them was Chloe Shaw. Teddy and Fionn cheered loudly when she was sorted and Chloe joined them looking rather embarrassed at their blatant displays of enthusiasm.

The sorting soon finished with Laura Williams becoming a Hufflepuff. Once the last student had been sorted, Professor McGonagall rose form her seat to address the students.

"Welcome one and all to another year at Hogwarts. To our first years, I hope you find a home here at Hogwarts and experience everything that the school has to offer you.

"Many of you may notice that this year's first year group is significantly smaller than in previous years. It would be disrespectful not to comment on the fact. However, this year marks the first year in which Hogwarts students were born after the war. These students have grown up in a safe world. Granted, the tragedies of the war still impact all of our lives and I know that the same can be said for our new students.

"Eleven years later, I ask you to abide by Hogwarts' unspoken rules; unity, tolerance, and love. We are working to create a society of equality and acceptance. We may not be there yet, but as long as I am in Hogwarts, I will do my utmost to ensure that every student who leaves this school has those ethos."

The room was silent as Professor McGonagall scanned the room seriously. Her face broke into a small smile. "I won't keep you from your dinners any longer. Let us celebrate another year together." She raised her arms and the large plates on the tables magically filled with food. The students happily dug in.

"Lads, this is unreal," Fionn exclaimed. "The three of us were sorted into the same house after sitting together on the train." Teddy grinned back. What were the odds that he had found his friends on the Hogwarts Express like Harry had?

"I'm gutted I didn't find you lot on the train," Amina said. "It would have been dead convenient to meet my housemates before."

"Where were you sitting?" Chloe asked.

"With my brother and his friends," Amina said. She hesitated, her eyes darting towards the table on the far side of the room. "He's in Slytherin. I think he hoped I would be there with him."

"Sure you'll still see him around," Fionn said. Amina nodded sadly. Teddy understood the meaning behind the feelings. Certain families, particularly Slytherins, were not happy when one of their own was sorted elsewhere. It was likely that Amina was from an old pure-blood family and was about to face some backlash.

"Were all of your family in Slytherin?" Teddy asked.

"They can be traced back to the house for almost one thousand years" she said. "One of the noble and ancient pureblood houses. I may be blasted off the family tree by a few distant relatives." She said it with a hint of disgust.

"I know all about that," Teddy said thinking of the tapestry on the wall at Grimmauld Place. "My Gran was a Black. I'm half-blood though – she married a muggle born and was disowned." This didn't seem to shock Amina.

Chloe and Fionn were listening to the conversation with curiosity. Teddy expected talk about noble houses and blood status was unusual to a muggle-born. It was becoming less of an important topic in recent years but in some communities the prejudice remained. His Gran had always told him that blood-status meant nothing and you should only be judged by your actions. He couldn't argue with her given that she had abandoned pure-blood society and her family to marry the man she loved.

"My parents won't be angry," Amina said surely. "My brother will come around to it but my parents will be happy if I am." She turned to Chloe, clearly wanting to change the subject. "I guess it's just going to be the two of us in the girls' dorm," she said changing the subject.

The feast was well under way at that point. He had never seen as much food in his entire life – and he thought there was a lot of food at Christmas dinner at the Burrow.

Teddy spent the feast happily chatting to Amina, Fionn and Chloe, as well as some of the older students who were sitting around them. By the time they finished their meal, Teddy was feeling rather tired. Professor McGonagall once again rose from her seat and dismissed the students.

Teddy and the other first years followed the Gryffindor prefects to Gryffindor tower. Teddy had heard so much about it from Harry and the Weasley's that he felt like he already knew the place.

He followed Fionn and Christopher towards their dorm where three large four poster beds sat invitingly. The three boys set to unpacking their belongings straight away. Fionn had some muggle posters of bands and sports teams he liked. Teddy was shocked that the people in the pictures were not moving and when he asked Fionn the reason, he had inexplicably started roaring with laughter.

"I don't think I'll ever understand how muggles live," Teddy said when Fionn had calmed down. "What about you Christopher, have you been around muggles much?"

Christopher, their third roommate had been mostly silent the entirety of the evening. He hadn't joined their conversation at dinner and was quietly unpacking his trunk while Teddy and Fionn talked noisily to one another.

"No," Christopher said without looking up from his trunk. Fionn and Teddy gave one another equally confused expressions.

"Will your family be happy you're in Gryffindor?" Teddy asked, trying to make conversation lest the awkwardness take over the room.

"My father went to Durmstrang," he said simply. "He thinks the division of houses in Hogwarts is trivial."

"That's good, I suppose," Teddy said, not really sure what to make of his second roommate. He didn't know much about the other wizarding schools. He knew Victoire's mother had gone to Beauxbatons and had heard rumours that Durmstrang was involved in the Dark Arts but that was the extent of his knowledge.

"I'm sure my parents will just be happy I've survived this long," Fionn joked. "They told me to send them a letter since I can't text or call them and computers or internet don't work here. How do I do that?"

Teddy needed a second to comprehend some of the words Fionn had just said. "I'll help you send an owl tomorrow," he assured him.

"Thank God I've got you to help me, Teddy," Fionn said. "I don't think I could work out this magical world on my own!"

Teddy smiled. He was happy to help out Fionn. The two boys got on well so far and Teddy hoped that they would become friends. Christopher, on the other hand, might need some warming up to.

After sorting through their belongings, the three boys eventually went to bed. Teddy lay in his four-poster bed but was unable to sleep. His mind was racing thinking of all he had experienced that day. He felt relieved and excited at the same time. He was finally in Hogwarts. He had heard stories about the castle from his family for years. His only hope was that he made friends and memories like his father and Harry had.

Teddy had left the curtains of his four-poster bed open leaving the window visible from his bed. Through the narrow window, he could see the glow of the moon. Three quarters of the way full. He had one week. He turned over in his bed to face away from the moon, all feelings of excitement dissipated and were replaced by the familiar feeling of dread.

 **AN: Thank you for reading! I had a number of stories up a few years ago but deleted them all a year or so ago. I'm back on the fanfiction writing train with this story and I'm planning on seeing it through until the end. I've the plot mapped out and about 10 chapters written. I'll be uploading as I edit them.**

 **This chapter was slightly dull and a bit of a pain to write but it was necessary to set up the story. The actual plot will start in the next chapter and things will start to get more interesting.**

 **Please, please, please leave me a review, I'm trying to improve my writing. I want to know if you loved it, hated it or if there's anything you'd like to see happen throughout the story. I'd love feedback and I'm happy to take suggestions on board in relation to the plot. Thanks!  
**


	2. Full Moon Rising

**AN: Thank you to everyone who has reviewed, favourited and followed the story so far! The last chapter was admittedly a bit dull as it was setting the scene but the storyline starts in this chapter. I have a decent chunk of this already written so I will be uploading chapters once I've edited them. Please review as I really want to know what people think so I can improve my writing. Thanks!**

Teddy found it difficult to thoroughly enjoy his first week at Hogwarts. The castle was everything he had ever dreamed about but he couldn't keep his mind from what was happening on Friday night.

He didn't think that his fellow Gryffindors had any idea what was going through his head. Externally, he appeared cheerful enough as he joined his classmates in excited discussions about their new classes. He laughed along when Fionn O'Brien, his muggle born roommate, made jokes about the castle but didn't speak much – this was very unlike him.

Teddy had always been a cheerful and chatty child. The truth was, he had always been encouraged to be himself and he was confident in the fact that all of his family members had accepted him for who he was. He didn't like that he had to hide part of himself from anyone but he knew that it was for his own safety.

He tried to push his worries to the back of his mind and enjoy Hogwarts. He was quickly getting to know his fellow housemates and other first years well.

Friday morning came around in a blink of an eye and Teddy awoke with his usual monthly symptoms. Every full moon had been the same for as long as he could remember. However, his grandmother was usually there to look after him. He would have to face this on his own.

Teddy sat up in bed and immediately felt like he was going to throw up.

"Jaysus, Teddy, are you feeling alright?" Fionn asked when he caught sight of him. Teddy attempted a smile. "Yeah, I'm ok," he responded in a fake perky voice. Fionn didn't look convinced.

Teddy quickly got dressed, quickly checking his appearance in the mirror to ensure that he hadn't accidentally changed his hair colour or anything of the sort in his sleep.

Both his grandmother and Harry had sent him letters wishing him luck for the night ahead. Harry's had contained practical advice while his grandmother's contained a warning to go straight to the Hospital Wing. That was the last thing he wanted to do. Teddy was going to have to deal with the full moon every month for the next seven years. He didn't want to spend that much time in the hospital wing. All it would do is rouse suspicion amongst his friends.

The day didn't get any better as it wore on. The first years were subjected to their first class with Professor Thursten Farrow. They had heard from older students that he was a difficult Professor. Where other Hogwarts Professors often favoured one house over another, Farrow seemingly hated every student equally. Teddy had once overheard Hermione and Harry discussing how he was an unsuitable teacher. When Teddy had asked them about it, both had told him that he can form his own opinions on his new Professor.

Farrow surveyed the class with his arms folded across his chest as they filed in. He was very tall and his stance was rather imposing to a class of first years. His greying hair was slicked back into a ponytail that emphasised his receding hairline. Teddy wasn't certain, but he thought he saw Farrow smirk when he entered the room.

Teddy took a seat next to Fionn as Farrow began to speak.

"Welcome to Defence Against the Dark Arts," he began in a slow drawl. "While you all have grown up in a relatively peaceful society, do not doubt for a minute the relevance of this subject. Although we may not currently have a dark wizard at large, that is not to say that the period of peace will remain so."

Teddy glanced around the room. All of his classmates were looking sombre. Some of the muggle born students such as Chloe were looking positively terrified.

"One must also remember that Defence against magical creatures is of the utmost importance, particularly in our current climate. That is where I will began our course on defensive theory this year. My aim is for you to identify dark creatures in our midst as well as what they can do.

"As many of you may not know, this is in fact my area of expertise. I worked for the Department for the Control and Regulation of Magical Creatures for a number of years, dealing with the likes of vampires, dragons, and werewolves."

Farrow's eyes lingered on Teddy momentarily but it was likely that the rest of the class didn't realise. He could feel the colour rise to his cheeks under the stare and focused on keeping his hair the same colour.

Farrow had worked for the Department for the Control and Regulation of Magical Creatures. Teddy could only imagine that this was part of the reason why Harry and Hermione weren't his biggest fans. Hermione worked for the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, focusing on the rights of Magical Beings. Teddy knew that a lot of her work involved campaigning and litigating for better treatment and equal rights for all Magical Beings. This often left her at heads with the Department for the Control and Regulation of Magical Creatures for the sole reason that she did not classify Magical Beings, including werewolves, as creatures.

The realisation that Hermione and Farrow did not get along made Teddy feel a pit in his stomach. He could only imagine that Hermione and Farrow had disagreed about Hermione's policies – most likely about werewolf rights. Teddy attempted to push the thought from his mind.

"We're going to begin out studies with a quick quiz on Dark Creatures," Farrow said with a devious smile.

"Who can tell me which side these creatures fought for in the war?" Farrow flicked his wand and an image of a giant appeared on the board. Several hands raised around the room.

"Giants fought for You-Know-Who in the Final Battle, sir," Emmeline Forsythe answered.

"Correct." He flicked his wand again and a centaur appeared on the screen. Fewer hands were in the air this time including Teddy's. Farrow called on Amina Shafiq.

"Centaurs didn't take a side," Amina said. "They're independent creatures but they did fight against You-Know-Who in the Final Battle."

Farrow flicked his wand again to reveal a vampire. He called on Teddy to answer.

"Vampires weren't involved in the war or the Battle of Hogwarts," he answered.

Farrow merely nodded and once again waved his wand. Teddy's heart skipped a beat when he saw what was on the screen. A werewolf.

Several hands rose throughout the room again. Teddy remained frozen in place. Isabelle Forsythe answered.

"Werewolves fought on both sides, sir," she said. Farrow narrowed his eyes at her.

"While it is true that _some_ werewolves fought against You-Know-Who, the vast majority fought with him," Farrow said slowly. "That answer alone would not pass in an exam. Five points from Ravenclaw." Isabelle Forsythe looked like she was about to cry.

The class moved onto talking about how to identify various creatures such as pixies and Grindylows. Teddy remained silent for the rest of the class. After what felt like the longest hour of his life, the class ended.

"You all know that tonight is the full-moon," Farrow said as they were leaving. "Make sure that you all have your guard up," he sneered. Teddy kept his eyes firmly ahead of him, he didn't want to look at Farrow. His one class with him had confirmed his suspicions – Farrow was anti-werewolf.

Teddy was gradually starting to feel worse as the day wore on. He was spending the majority of his time focusing on not throwing up. He was exhausted by dinner. Typically, on the day of the full moon he had always spent most of it sleeping and not doing so was taking its toll on him. He managed to make it to dinner before he went back to the dormitory amid the concerns of fellow Gryffindors Fionn and Chloe.

"Teddy, are you sure you're feeling ok?" Chloe asked him with a note of concern in her voice. Teddy looked up from his potatoes that he was moving around his plate with his fork, not actually eating. He tried to appear as positive as possible as he responded.

"Yeah, I'm great," he said but even to his own ears it sounded false.

"Head on up to bed, mate," Fionn said. "No offense but you look awful." Teddy smiled. "Yeah, I think I might."

Christopher Lewis, Teddy's other roommate looked at him suspiciously as he stood up from the table. Teddy tried to shoot him a grin but he felt it came out as more of a grimace.

Teddy went straight to the dormitory and lay on his bed without changing. He knew that he wasn't going to sleep that night, he never did. He lay there in silence, mentally preparing for the night to come, nervous that it was his first time to go through it alone.

He looked at his watch. The moon was due to rise at 8.25pm. He had ten minutes before it began. He pulled the curtains around his four poster bed so that if his roommates came in they would just assume he had fallen asleep. He knew that they would eventually start to wonder what was happening to him as the months wore on – he just wasn't ready to explain the situation right away.

Although he had his curtains drawn, Teddy knew the moment that the moon rose. He closed his eyes as the familiar pains took over his body.

Every one of his muscles was aching and his heart was pounding. It was as if his body was fighting with itself. He tried to remain as still as possible so as not to aggravate the pain in any way. He focused on remaining calm when all he wanted to do was shriek in pain.

He had tried countless different potions over the years but none had been successful. When the moon was up, his body temperature rose and his body burned off any potions he took quicker than they could take any effect.

Teddy was unique in many ways. He was the child of a werewolf – perhaps one of the only children like himself in existence. He knew his godfather and Hermione had searched for information about other children born to werewolves but had come up empty handed. His father had worried about passing his affliction onto a child and was elated to find that Teddy was not a werewolf when he was born. However, although he did not become a fully-fledged werewolf at the full-moon, he didn't remain unaffected by the moon's powers.

Hermione, the brightest witch of her age, had come to the conclusion that it was his mother who had saved him from the true extent of lycanthropy. As a metamorphmagus, Teddy could control and transform his appearance at will. Hermione said that the metamorphmagus genes override his werewolf genes. His body, so used to changing at its own will, fought back when another force tried to change it.

Although he was not a full werewolf, the full moon had its effects on him. Once a month, as his metamorphmagus genes fought his werewolf ones, Teddy was left in excruciating pain. He was simply grateful that it was not up to him to focus on not transforming and that his body did it for him.

Once the moon rose, Teddy could not sleep. The pain in his body was not the only thing to keep him awake – the moon itself had an effect on him which caused restlessness. While the full moon was risen, Teddy was unable to fall asleep leading to long nights trying to deal with the excruciating pain that coursed through his body.

Teddy heard his roommates entering the dormitory and was thankful that he had the privacy of drawing his curtains so they couldn't see him.

"Teddy must've already gone to sleep," Fionn said glancing at his drawn curtains. Christopher made a noise similar to a grunt.

"I wonder what's up with him," Fionn continued in a whisper. "Hope we don't catch it, I don't want to get sick in the first week!"

"I don't think it's contagious," Christopher said in a dry voice.

"Are there special wizard diseases, then?" Fionn asked, curiosity seeping from the muggle-born's voice.

"Yes," Christopher hesitated. Teddy could feel his heart pounding in his chest. "I don't know if that's what's wrong with Teddy though."

Christopher must know, Teddy thought to himself. It wasn't necessarily a secret that his father was a werewolf. He was proud of who his father was and what he had done. He was a hero. Teddy had been taught from the moment he was old enough to understand that his parents had died to protect the wizarding world and he should be nothing but proud of them.

Despite this, and despite the work that had been done to progress werewolf rights by Hermione, Teddy knew that there was still a certain stigma attached to the disease amongst some wizards. He had been warned before entering Hogwarts that the real world was not always as tolerant or understanding as the one he had grown up in, surrounded by his extended family consisting of the Potters, Weasleys and the remaining members of Dumbledore's Army and the Order of the Phoenix. Perhaps his roommate Christopher was one such wizard.

Teddy lay awake and in pain for the night. He didn't dare get up and walk around in case anyone in Gryffindor caught sight of him.

When he was younger, his grandmother or Harry would stay up with him for the night and do anything they could to distract him from what was happening. While he had been in pain during these nights, he couldn't help but look on the nights he spent with Harry fondly. It was always one of the rare occasions that he had Harry to himself – no younger kids demanding his attention. They would spend the nights playing games of exploding snap or wizard's chess, reading books, watching Quidditch plays or simply talking. Harry would tell him stories of when his father had been his teacher in Hogwarts and the stories that he had gathered about the Marauders and their time in Hogwarts. They were special nights for Teddy.

The moon eventually gave rise to the sun and Teddy felt his body relax. It was almost seven in the morning when Teddy finally drifted off to sleep, the effects on the moon leaving his system, relieved that he had made it through his first full-moon in Hogwarts unscathed.

Teddy awoke mid-afternoon the next day to a tapping on his window. He looked over and saw Harry's owl looking impatient.

"Alright, alright, I'm coming," muttered Teddy, dragging himself out of bed. He glanced down at his watch, it was after three, he had slept through breakfast and lunch. Nothing unusual for the day after the full moon but it was possibly problematic given the amount of homework he had to do over the weekend.

He opened the dorm window and allowed Harry's owl to swoop in. He rubbed her gently as he retrieved the letter from her leg.

 _Teddy,_

 _Please let us know how last night went as soon as you can. You were brave to go through it on your own for the first time and we are so proud of you._

 _Harry._

As Teddy read Harry's letter the door of the dormitory swung open and Fionn strolled in.

"Teddy, what did you do to your hair? Is that a spell?" he cried.

"My hair?" Teddy looked up at him. Realisation struck and he darted his eyes towards the mirror near him. Sure enough, his hair had reverted to his favourite turquoise colour. The thought hadn't even occurred to him to change his hair back to its natural sandy brown as he usually did first thing when he woke up. He quickly switched it back which he couldn't hide from his roommate who's mouth fell open in shock.

"How'd you do that without a wand?" Fionn asked incredulously.

"Er… I'm a metamorphmagus." Fionn's face remained blank. "Right, you're a muggle-born," Teddy said remembering. "I can change my appearance whenever I want," he explained.

"Deadly," Fionn said with amazement. "Can you teach me?" Teddy shook his head and smiled. "Nah, mate, you have to be born like this," he explained. "My mum was one too so she passed it on to me."

"Still cool," Fionn said. "You know, Amina is convinced that your eyes are always changing colour. She said it in the common room last night after you went to bed."

Teddy grimaced. His eyes always gave away his emotions. He had the most trouble controlling their colour and obviously he hadn't been careful enough.

"Yeah, they change a lot. I better be more careful."

"Nah, it's amazing!" exclaimed Fionn. "That's one of the coolest things I've seen since getting here. If I was you I'd be changing my appearance all the time."

"Usually I do," he said. "My gran and godfather told me to keep it quiet at Hogwarts though. My godfather says that it's better to keep certain things private in case of emergency."

"What kind of emergency is he expecting?" asked Fionn, utterly bewildered. Teddy realised that as a muggle-born, Fionn was not aware of the extent to which Dark Wizards were once at large. Despite the overall peace in the Wizarding community, Teddy knew that there were still dark wizards who had supported Voldemort. Harry didn't let on, but he knew that Harry was their number one target and because of this, he liked to do everything he could to keep the public knowledge about his family to a minimum, in case it was used against him.

"My godfather is very… careful. He's an Auror – a dark wizard catcher."

Teddy joined Fionn for dinner in the Great Hall. He was feeling much better after spending the entire day sleeping, as he usually did. As they joined the Gryffindor table, Amina looked at them seriously.

"Did you hear the news?" she asked quietly. Teddy and Fionn shook their heads.

"There's been a breakout from Azkaban." She handed Teddy the Daily Prophet.

AZKABAN ESCAPEE

 _It was discovered this morning that there has been a breakout from Azkaban. The high security prison, which houses the darkest of wizards, many of whom were followers of You-Know-Who, has only had two reported breakouts in the past and none since the fall of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. The escapee in question is Fenrir Greyback, who was arrested after the Second Wizarding War for acts against wizards and muggles alike. Greyback, a known werewolf, is highly dangerous and any sightings should be reported to the Ministry instantly._

 _Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived, the Chosen-One, Conquerer of the Dark Lord and Head Auror had the following to say: "The breakout is an isolated incident and the means by which Greyback broke out of Azkaban are being investigated. It is not believed that Greyback has a wand but he is still very dangerous. The Auror office is working tirelessly to capture Greyback."_

 _Long-time friend of Harry Potter and part of the famed Golden Trio, Hermione Granger-Weasley, who is now head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement made the following statement in relation to the breakout: "I trust the Auror office to capture Greyback in a timely manner. If Greyback's means of breaking out are to be understood, it raises the question of the power of the Dementors and their ability to effectively guard prisoners. It is clear that other methods should be considered."_

 _Hermione Granger Weasley has spoken about Dementors in the past, citing the lack of control of the Ministry over the creatures, particularly during You-Know-Who's reign as a reason for their dismissal. However, the rest of the Wizarding World may not feel safe if not for the Dementors. Enid Hawkins of Battersea has said (Continued page 13)._

"He's a werewolf?" Chloe said when she had finished reading, fear evident in her eyes. "Do you think he could come to Hogwarts? If he bites do you become a werewolf too?" The poor muggle-born girl looked terrified. Teddy could understand, it was her first exposure to the dangerous side to the wizarding world.

He said nothing. He knew that Greyback was the werewolf who had bitten his father and subjected him to a life of discrimination. He was never told, but he had overheard Harry and Ron talking about him a few years previously.

"I heard he's really dangerous," a third year sitting next to them said, overhearing Chloe's apparent fear. "Apparently his mission is to bite as many people as he can – and he loves children."

Chloe went positively white. Amina attempted to cheer her up. "Don't worry, Chloe. There's no way he can come here."

"You never know," said the third year, grinning menacingly. "There may already be some werewolves in our midst." His eyes darted towards Teddy and he smirked while Teddy scowled at him. Amina clearly noticed the exchange between Teddy and the third year as her eyes grew wide with understanding.

"Well, there's nothing to worry about Chloe," she said comforting the girl. "Greyback could never get into Hogwarts. Most werewolves live ordinary lives and don't try to hurt others. They're misunderstood."

Fear was still present on Chloe's face as she nodded sombrely.

"Not all of them," the third year said. "Most of them are violent and dangerous. Greyback even bites people when he's not a werewolf – others probably do too."

"I'm going back to the common room," Teddy said abruptly, standing up and leaving the table. He wanted nothing more than to argue with the third year but he didn't want to draw attention to himself. He was still tired and on edge from the full-moon the previous night.

He didn't want to be surrounded by talk of werewolves. The thought of Greyback on the loose terrified Teddy but he had every faith in Harry and the other Aurors.

What was really bothering him was the third year's attitude on the subject. He obviously knew who Teddy was judging by his smirk and it seemed like he had a problem with it. The question was – did anyone else have a problem with him?

"Teddy," a voice called just as he rounded the corner towards the Gryffindor tower. Amina was behind him, panting slightly.

"What's up, Amina?" Teddy said, feigning a friendly demeanour.

"Blimey, you walk fast," she said catching her breath. "I wanted to talk to you. Are you ok? I heard what that tosser Hargrave said, he doesn't know what he's talking about, he –"

"It's fine," Teddy growled. "I know what he meant by it, you clearly do too."

"Well, it's not really a secret," Amina said shuffling slightly. "You're sort of famous, well your family is. Not to mention your godfather. People are bound to know your dad was a werewolf. I don't care, and most people don't. Everyone has become much more accepting since –"

"It's fine, Amina."

"Clearly, it's not, Teddy."

She reminded him of Victoire. If there was ever anything upsetting him, Victoire wouldn't let it go until he told her about it. Why did girls have to be so persistent.

Teddy sighed. It was clear that Amina wasn't going to leave him alone about what had just happened.

"I just don't want muggle-borns like Chloe and Fionn, who have no experience with things like this to get the wrong idea. I know things have changed, but not everyone is so accepting. I'm worried they'll hear someone saying something and then think of me differently. Chloe is nearly crying thinking about werewolves, for Merlin's sake."

Amina smiled. "Oh Teddy, if that's all you're worrying about I think you'll be ok."

Teddy shot her a quizzical look. "Fionn is probably one of the most laid-back people I've ever met. Could you actually see him treating you differently?"

"Well… no, I couldn't." In fact, Fionn would probably think the whole thing was cool, as he did most things in the magical world.

"And Chloe doesn't know enough not to be scared. She'll learn." Teddy grinned genuinely at Amina.

"You're right. Thanks."

What he didn't want to say was that it wasn't Chloe and Fionn he was worried about in Gryffindor, it was his roommate Christopher.

As the weeks passed, Teddy became better friends with his fellow Gryffindors – particularly with his muggle born roommate Fionn who, despite their very different backgrounds, had a lot in common with Teddy. Fionn's enthusiasm for all things wizarding was infectious and Teddy enjoyed watching his reactions when he shared another piece of new information with him.

The boys had also become rather friendly with Chloe and Amina, the Gryffindor girls. The only first year Gryffindor that Teddy was unsure of was his other roommate Christopher. Christopher tended to keep to himself but Teddy couldn't help but feel like he was particularly cold towards him.

The castle was alight with talk about Greyback's breakout over the following few days. However, as things typically went in Hogwarts, something else came up to distract the masses – in this case it was the Head Boy being caught cheating on his girlfriend with the Head Girl, something Teddy cared very little about but the girls cared a great deal.

"It's such a scandal, Teddy!" Chloe had gasped. "Like a reality TV show."

"A what?"

"Mate, you don't even want to know," laughed Fionn.

Teddy was just happy that Chloe was no longer occupied with thoughts of werewolf attacks. He still hadn't mentioned his own connection to Greyback and werewolves – not deliberately, it just hadn't come up.

As the next full-moon rapidly approached, Teddy felt as though he had companions in his apprehension in the form of the entire school. About a week before the following full-moon, some of the older students started to sell werewolf repellent amulets, claiming that they were made of pure silver. Chloe had almost been convinced to buy one by a particularly pushy fifth year student.

"Don't waste your money, Chloe. They don't work," Teddy told her.

"Don't listen to Lupin," the fifth year sneered. "He's just saying that because he doesn't need one."

Teddy had opened his mouth to retaliate when he was dragged away forcefully by Amina.

Teddy had written to Harry asking him about Greyback. He hadn't wanted to seem like he was worried, merely curious but knowing Harry, it was unlikely that he believed him. He had written back telling him not to worry and that the Aurors were already following leads.

Ultimately, Greyback became another aspect of the full-moon that Teddy would worry about.


	3. Fiery Encounters

It was the kind of night where the shadows seemed to hold people, maliciously watching every move. The moon, almost full, gleamed off the cobbled streets still wet from rainfall earlier in the night. A man walked with purpose, footsteps resounding through the narrow streets, his long travelling cloak whipping around his ankles. He tightened his cloak around him and adjusted the hood as the breeze threatened to reveal his face.

He turned abruptly down one of the side streets and approached a small, insignificant looking door. He rapped on the door with his knuckles rather than using the old knocker which appeared to be rusted shut. The door creaked open at his touch.

"Greyback," the man said sternly. "Not a fan of security or protective charms, are you?"

The man on the other side of the door narrowed his eyes, lips curled into an animalistic snarl.

"Nobody knows where I am except you," he growled. His eyes darted around the street before creaking the door open. He grunted and jerked his head, beckoning his visitor inside.

The man entered and pulled down his hood revealing his face which turned to a grimace as he surveyed the small room.

"Allow me," he said as turned and muttered an incantation towards the door. "We should be sufficiently protected from intruders."

"Do yeh have it or not, Burke?" Greyback growled.

Burke narrowed his beady eyes at Greyback and pulled a jar from inside of his cloak. The contents were thick and a red so dark it almost looked black. He handed the jar to Greyback who grinned manically. He hastily opened the jar and began chugging the contents. Burke looked on with a face of disgust.

"That's the last of it," he said firmly. "I'm being investigated. Potter –"

"Yer always being investigated," Greyback said, wiping his mouth on the back of his hand. "Potter can't do anything."

"Even so, my stock is depleted."

"You know I can't hunt like I used to."

"Go to a muggle area, they'll never know the difference."

"I hate the taste of muggles," Greyback grimaced. "Too acidic or something. Besides, I have my sights on certain targets."

Burke raised an eyebrow. "And who might that be?"

Greyback barked in laughter. "Nothing tastes better than a child who already has a bit of wolf in them," he said hungrily. "I'm going to get my revenge on Potter the only way I know how."

"The Lupin boy can wait," Burke said sternly. "You know the plan."

Greyback crossed his arms like a sullen child. "I never agreed to this plan," he grunted.

"Your agreement was your release from Azkaban. Or would you prefer to go back?"

"No. I'll follow the ruddy plan. It's your job to keep me in supply." He gave Burke an appraising look. "I still don't know what's in it for you."

Burke smiled slyly. "Never you mind."

Greyback narrowed his eyes and took another slug of his goblet, licking his lips hungrily to lap up every last morsel of his precious, soon to be diminished, liquid. Burke's upper lip had become pinched in disgust.

"I've come with orders," Burke said.

Greyback slammed the goblet onto the table.

"I'm ready," he said grinning manically. "We're getting close to the full moon, I'm on edge – tell me what to do. What does he want?"

"We'll be moving you tomorrow night and putting you in position."

"Hogwarts?"

"I didn't say that."

"Where else could it be?" Greyback growled angrily.

"Don't pretend that you understand the plan, Fenrir. It makes you look dumber than you are." Greyback glared.

"Listen and don't speak," Burke said slowly. "I'm not wasting my time. I'm only going to explain once." Greyback leaned forward eagerly, his lips curling revealing sharp yellowed teeth.

"Ron, stay to my left. Higgins, stay behind. Aim to incapacitate, not to kill." Harry looked around at his team as they nodded. "Alright, wands at the ready."

They turned the corner down the narrow side streets of Knockturn Alley. They had received a tip that Caractacus Burke had been supplying Greyback with something to this address that night. Harry was usually reluctant to follow tips; but they had been watching Burke for the past number of days waiting for him to leave his shop. That night, he had walked exactly to the address that they had been given. It almost seemed too good to be true.

They reached the door that Burke had just entered. Harry waved his wand over the door, casting the necessary curse and hex detecting spells. The door glowed a bright green, indicating that it was safe to enter. Harry nodded towards Ron and Higgins who took a step backwards.

"Confringo!" Harry shouted, blasting open the door.

The door opened releasing a tall burst of flames. There was a burning white light and Harry felt as though his face was being stabbed with thousands of needles. Stunned and confused from the explosion, rather than casting a spell, he raised his arms to protect himself from the blast.

In an effort to shield him, Harry was knocked to the ground by Ron who had avoided the worst of the flames by way of standing behind Harry. Ron then stood up and fired various spells towards the impeding flames to prevent the blaze from advancing. Harry, still dazed from the blast, lay on the ground, his head spinning and his body burning from contact with the flames. Higgins was at Harry's side and was feebly shooting water at him to reduce the burning.

Harry heard a familiar manic laugh from behind the flames. "Fiendfyre, you genius," Greyback laughed.

The entire right side of Harry's body was burning, his robes feeling as though they had melted into his skin. His right arm appeared to be still on fire despite Higgins' persistent attempts to diffuse it.

"Potter can't protect little Lupin like this now, can he," Greyback sneered. Harry shot up, pain searing across his skin. Greyback met his eyes through the flames that were being successfully held back by Ron's shield charms. Greyback's yellow eyes bore into him. His lips curled into a malicious snarl.

"He's mine, Potter," he growled.

Ignoring the pain down his right side, Harry lunged towards Greyback and back into the body of the flames. Ron grabbed him around the waist in an effort to restrain him.

A cloaked figure appeared through the flames next to Greyback. With a crack, Greyback was grabbed by the cloaked figure and they disapparated. Harry desperately scrambled towards them.

"They're gone, mate."

"He's after Teddy, I need to go," Harry gasped, struggling to escape from Ron's grasp. His attempts were in vain as the right side of his body refused to cooperate. Unable to fight back, and realising the futility of fighting after Greyback had dissapparated, Ron eventually managed to coerce Harry onto his knees.

"Harry, we're going to Mungo's," Ron said with an uncharacteristic firmness. Harry looked blearily at his friend, fear evident on Ron's face. Ron was muttering incantations over Harry's arm. What Harry saw shocked him.

Although painful, Harry was not prepared for what he saw. The fire that he had attempted to diffuse on his sleeve raged on, as if burning from inside of him. His flesh had almost entirely been burned off, exposing bone around his wrist.

"Yeah, Mungo's," Harry said in a pained voice. Remembering he was at a crime scene he said to Higgins; "Higgins, review the scene. I'll send backup."

Ron grabbed Harry's good arm to apparate them to the hospital.

Harry opened his eyes and took in the room around him. White, bright – a hospital room. Light streamed through the window on his left-hand side, illuminating his surroundings.

"Harry?"

He looked toward the familiar voice, dripping with concern. Ginny was leaning over him, her long red hair cascading over her shoulders. She appeared blurry without his glasses, but he could make out the concern on her face.

"Hi, Gin," he said attempting to smile. The skin on his face felt unusually tight.

"Oh, Harry, I've been so worried," she leaned in to kiss him but pulled back before touching him.

"What's the damage?" he asked. After everything he went through in Hogwarts and almost eleven years as an Auror, he was no stranger to injuries. Ginny averted her eyes from him, reluctant to give him an answer.

"Ginny?" Harry urged.

The door creaked open and an older man with a poof of grey hair entered wearing Healer robes.

"Ah, Mr Potter, I see you've woken up. I'm Healer Jacobs." Harry attempted to smile at him but again his face felt tight.

Healer Jacobs smiled back, realising what he had tried to do. "You might want to keep your facial movements to a minimum for the time being, Mr Potter."

"What's happened?"

"You've been badly burned. Fiendfyre, by the looks of it." Harry groaned. He looked down at his arm which was resting above the sheets. He didn't feel any pain in his arm but it was heavily bandaged right down to his finger-tips. Come to think of it, he couldn't feel anything on his arm.

"Mr Potter," Healer Jacobs began gravely. "The injuries you have sustained have been quite severe. Fiendfyre cannot be put out by magic and well… I've never seen anything like this… Well – you'll have to see for yourself."

He leaned over and slowly began to peel off Harry's bandages. "You might want to step back, Mrs Potter." Ginny nodded and moved from her chair, taking three steps back. She had one hand hugging her waist and the other held to her mouth. Her eyebrows were furrowed, and her eyes were full of worry.

Healer Jacobs continued to unroll Harry's bandaged arm. Suddenly, as the last of the bandage was removed, flames burst from Harry's arm.

After the initial shock of seeing his arm on fire subsided, Harry attempted to examine his injury further. The flame seemed to emanate from the area just below the crook of his elbow. The surrounding area comprised of raw, exposed flesh, shining in the light of the flames. The flesh which was not exposed or on fire was almost entirely black like charcoal. The shrivelled, blackened skin stretched to the tips of his fingers, disconcertingly reminding Harry of Dumbledore's cursed, decaying hand in the months before he died.

Harry looked at Ginny whose eyes were wide with fear and concern. Healer Jacobs began hastily rewrapping his arm, the flames subduing as he did so.

"I understand this is shocking Mr Potter," he said calmly. "We have done what we could to control the flames. When you arrived, the entire right side of your body was on fire. We put out the flames on your face and legs – you are left with burns which are the cause of the tightness you feel but you should make a full recovery, with no scarring. Your arm however…"

"I shielded my face with my arm," Harry said. "It must have had more exposure to the flames."

"That is what we assumed," Healer Jacobs responded. "As you can see, these bandages are flame resistant, so they will keep the fire at bay. We are exploring various methods to put out the flames but –"

"Why can't I feel my arm?"

"We have cast a powerful numbing charm. I don't think anyone wants to feel the sensation of their arm on fire," he chuckled.

"Will he have to stay here?" Ginny asked.

"For the time being, yes. At least until we can manage the flames better. Although there is no knowing how long that might take. And work will be out of the question for a number of months."

"Months?" Harry asked incredulously. "I can't be out of work for months - I'm Head of the Department. There's killers to catch, Greyback…" Harry trailed off. Greyback. He was targeting Teddy.

"I need to speak to Ron," Harry said to Ginny, ignoring Healer Jacobs' attempts to assure him that he could do with a nice break.

"You need to rest, Harry. If it's case related, it can wait," she said placing her hand on his uninjured shoulder.

"Ginny, Greyback did this. Greyback and Burke. He threatened Teddy, he's targeting him. I need to speak to Ron now."

Ginny paled. Harry felt her grip tighten on his shoulder, her nails digging into him. She nodded and left the room, returning moments later with Ron and Hermione. Ron was looking dishevelled while Hermione appeared more excited than concerned. The prospect of researching his injuries had dissolved her worry, no doubt.

Hermione started speaking in a rapid fashion as soon as she entered the room. "Harry, I've been researching Fiendfyre and looking for other cases like this and –"

"Thanks, Hermione, I appreciate it," Harry said quickly, cutting her off. "Ron, what happened to Greyback?"

"Burke apparated away with him. We couldn't get through the fire to him."

"We need to station Aurors at Hogwarts tomorrow night. Greyback might target the school to get to Teddy," Harry said quickly, ignoring his present circumstances and returning to Auror mode. Ron nodded in agreement.

"I want Teddy to leave Hogwarts tomorrow during the full moon."

"Harry, do you really think that's a good idea?" Hermione said with concern. "He's safe there. There's nowhere safer than Hogwarts."

"How can you still say that after everything we've been through? He's safer with me," Harry said determinedly.

"Harry, you can't even move your wand arm. You're stuck here and about to burst into flames at any minute," Ginny said exasperatedly.

"I won't _burst into flames_ , Ginny. And I can use my wand arm." He reached for his wand and shot bubbles from the tip to prove his point.

"I'm not staying here. We'll both go to the house, nobody can find us there under the Fidelius Charm. I won't need to fight anyone, I just want to know he's safe."

Ron, Hermione and Ginny all looked grim but nodded in acceptance. Harry had a point and they all wanted to keep Teddy safe.

"Mr Potter, I'm sorry but I don't advise leaving the hospital, it would be against policy and would only slow down the process of your healing," Healer Jacobs blustered, his round face wobbling as he spoke.

"I'm sorry, Healer Jacobs, thank you for your help but I'm not staying here tomorrow," Harry said firmly. Healer Jacobs looked like he wanted to argue but looked around the others for backup to be met with a crowd of resigned faces.

"Sorry, sometimes there's really no way of arguing with the Chosen One," Ron said with a smirk. Harry scowled at Ron who merely shrugged.

Injured or not, there was no way Harry was going to leave Teddy unprotected the following night. He had promised Remus that he would look after him and keep him safe. Nothing was going to stop him from doing that.

"He's targeting Teddy because of me," Harry said quietly when Healer Jacobs had left. "Greyback knows that the best way to get to me is to hurt my family."

"We're not going to let him hurt Teddy, Harry," Ron said seriously. "We all care about Teddy as much as you, he's one of the family. We would never let any harm come to him."

"You have to think about what we know about Greyback," Hermione said. "He's irrational and impulsive – he doesn't have the intelligence or magical ability to break into Hogwarts."

"He broke out of Azkaban," Harry said grimly.

"You and I both know that's an argument against the Dementors rather than a credit to Greyback's intelligence," Hermione sniffed.

"What I want to know is; why is Burke helping him?" Ron said. "What's in it for him?"

"Did Higgins go over the scene?" Harry asked.

"Scoured the place," Ron said. "Looks like Greyback's been living there for a while – probably since he escaped from Azkaban. Bloody psycho had jars of blood lying around."

"What sort of blood?" Ginny asked.

"Exactly the sort that you're thinking of," Ron said with a grimace.

"He's a foul monster," Hermione said aghast.

"Any evidence as to why Burke was visiting him?" Harry asked.

"I reckon he was supplying him with the blood."

"Why? It's not as though Greyback can afford to pay him, and I doubt that blood comes cheap," Harry mused.

The door of Harry's hospital room swung open. The four occupants turned to the man who entered.

"Kingsley," Harry greeted. "What do I owe the pleasure of the Minister for Magic visiting my bedside?"

"Harry, m'boy," Kingsley smiled. "It is too rare an occurrence that you're in here. Your poor wife, how have you not kicked him to the kerb for treating you like this, Ginny?"

"I'm just incredibly supportive," Ginny said rolling her eyes. "I love a rebel." Kingsley laughed.

"I've spoken to your Healer, Harry," Kingsley started.

"I'm off the field, I know," Harry said dismayed. "I swear it's not a bad injury, I'll be ready to go back within a few days."

"I'm afraid your Healer says very differently. Fiendfyre?"

"It's not that bad," Harry mumbled. "I need to work – Greyback is targeting Teddy."

"I agree, Harry," Kingsley said. "Ron explained everything to me. If I had my way, you'd be back on the field tomorrow. Harry sat up, looking hopeful. "But I can't keep giving you special treatment – even if you are the Saviour or whatever they call you. You're still my employee. And there are rules that need to be followed."

"So that's it," Harry stated. "I'm off the field until they work out how to put out this fire on my arm." He weakly lifted his arm before letting it flop back onto the bed. He caught Ginny grimacing from the corner of his eye.

"Not necessarily, Harry," Kingsley smiled. "I may have a way that you can still do your job and be on the field."

"Harry is the most famous wizard in the world, he can't do undercover," Hermione stated. "Besides, he shouldn't put himself in any more danger."

"It's not necessarily an undercover position, Hermione," Kingsley explained. "But he will be in the thick of the action. While staying off the field, of course."

Hermione looked positively baffled.

"I think you should listen to Healer Jacobs, Harry," Ginny said. "You have three children to think about. You shouldn't put yourself in the thick of it when you're injured." She glanced down at his blackened fingers and visibly held back a shudder.

"I have four children to think about, Gin," Harry said firmly. "And one of them is in danger. I'll do anything I can to protect him." Harry and Ginny's eyes met. The couple shared a wordless conversation; Harry pleading with his wife to understand.

"Alright," Ginny sighed. "Do it for Teddy."

 **AN: Thank you to everyone who has followed this story so far. This chapter is a little bit shorter and told from different points of view. Do you prefer reading from Teddy's POV or Harry's? I would really appreciate any reviews or constructive criticism you have. Questions are also welcome!**

 **The next chapter will probably be up later on this week as this one was slightly shorter than others.**


	4. Defense Class

As the full moon approached, anxiety seemed to grip Teddy yet again. Although the previous full moon hadn't gone too bad, he still wasn't used to the experience away from home. He woke on the morning of the full moon with a feeling of nausea and dread in his stomach. Luckily, that morning provided some welcome distractions.

There was commotion in the Great Hall when Teddy entered with Fionn. All around students were talking animatedly, some looking scared, some simply appearing to be excited.

"What's the story?" asked Fionn as they joined Gryffindor table.

"There's Aurors stationed all around Hogwarts," Amina said excitedly. "Nobody knows why they're there."

"Apparently Harry Potter himself is here too," said a second year nearby. This piqued Teddy's interest.

"Harry's here?"

"Yeah, Lupin, he's your godfather, right?" the boy said. "Any idea why he's here?" Even a few of the older students had turned to see what he had to say. Teddy shrugged.

"No clue. Have you actually seen him?" The boy shook his head.

Teddy couldn't help but feel disappointed. He had thought for a brief moment that he would see Harry that day. Despite the front he put up, Teddy did miss his family and seeing Harry – on the day of the full-moon, no less – would have cheered him up immensely.

Teddy joined in with the other first years in guessing why Aurors might be around Hogwarts on their way to the first lesson of the day.

"It's the Giant Squid, I'm sure of it," Chloe said adamantly.

"I don't think the Squid would need a team of Aurors to keep it in the lake," laughed Teddy. "It's been there for years."

"Have you seen that thing? It's huge." Chloe said, eyes wide.

"Have you seen it, Chlo?" Amina asked struggling to keep a straight face.

"No, but it's not called the _Giant_ Squid for no reason."

"I heard from one of the second years that there's a giant snake that can kill you with its eyes living under the castle," Fionn said. "I bet that's it." Chloe looked positively petrified at the thought of a giant snake.

"That's just a rumour," huffed Amina. Teddy wasn't so sure – hadn't Harry mentioned something about killing a basilisk in his second year?

Some of the other suggestions included an escaped dragon, a goblin rebellion, or a herd of Hagrid's Blast Ended Skrewts escaping and capturing students.

"Isn't it obvious," Christopher said irritably as Fionn animatedly described, with actions, how he would just jump on a dragon's back if it attacked.

"What's obvious? My dragon fighting skills?" Fionn said while Teddy, Chloe and Amina laughed.

"Fenrir Greyback, that werewolf who escaped Azkaban is probably near here. It's the full-moon tonight." Christopher said the last part staring directly at Teddy, who could feel the blood rushing to his face. He concentrated on keeping his hair in check.

"Well, at least there's Aurors around then," Amina said, linking arms with Chloe who had turned several shades whiter and was now wearing a look of fear. "They're here to protect us if he does come near the school – but honestly, why would he?" Amina shot Christopher a dirty look and sauntered with Chloe into the classroom.

They had Defence Against the Dark Arts first thing that morning. Teddy was coming to resent the class, something that pained him greatly. He knew that it was the subject that his father had taught and had been Harry's best subject. He wanted to like it, but Professor Farrow made it difficult.

Farrow had taken a disliking to Teddy for no apparent reason. It had become an almost daily occurrence that Teddy would lose points for things that other students wouldn't even be reprimanded for. Teddy was consistently the target for difficult questions that were beyond the level of a first year. He had been trying his hardest to study for Defence Against the Dark Arts, but his efforts had yet to be realised.

"Today we will be discussing a different topic." The class sat up intently. Farrow seemed unusually excited and his excitement was causing feelings of heightened anticipation amongst the students.

"As many of you may have heard, there are a number of Aurors stationed around Hogwarts and the surrounding area today." Interest across the classroom had peaked.

"The reason behind this is, of course, the notorious werewolf, Fenrir Greyback. Tonight, is the full moon, Greyback will be more dangerous than ever before and it is known that he has a liking for younger, fresher meat." Farrow had a mischievous glint in his eyes giving him an almost manic appearance.

Teddy noticed Chloe next to him shrink down in her seat in fear. Teddy looked towards her and gave her a reassuring smile.

"While you are young, and do not have the skills required to fight a werewolf if attacked, I feel it only necessary to teach you about the beasts."

Teddy felt a jolt of anger. Did his Professor really just call werewolves beasts? He looked around the class – none of the other students seemed to have noticed his comments. Perhaps he had misheard.

"While some people will have you believe that werewolves are normal people who can live ordinary lives, this is not the case. Lycanthropy is not a problem once a month. These beasts will always be animals, unable to control their urges, whether they are in human form or not. They should be locked away in Azkaban to rot –"

"You're wrong."

The entire class turned to look at Teddy. He was so angry he could see red. He was also aware in the back of his mind that his hair had probably also turned red with anger. How could Farrow say those things, he had no idea what he was talking about.

"Excuse me, Mr Lupin?" Farrow had glint in his eye and a small smirk on his face.

"I said you're wrong. Werewolves are ordinary people with families and friends and lives." He was almost shouting now. He could feel his blood boiling.

"You disagree with me, Mr Lupin," Farrow drawled slowly. "I can't say I'm surprised. Of course, you would defend those creatures."

Teddy had never been so angry in his life. He stood up abruptly, knocking his chair back, ready to shout at Farrow when there was a knock at the door.

The whole class turned to look. Professor looked almost disappointed that he had been interrupted.

"Excuse me, Professor Farrow," a third year Gryffindor girl interrupted. "Professor Longbottom asked me to come get Teddy Lupin. It's urgent."

Farrow looked annoyed. "Yes, of course. Lupin get out of here before you do anything you will regret. It's the full-moon. You better be careful of those monsters you love so much."

Teddy opened his mouth to argue but Amina nudged him towards the door. "Go," she whispered seriously. Teddy picked up his bag. He caught Fionn's eye walking out. He looked shocked. _Great,_ he thought, _now my friends think I'm crazy._

He ran his hand through his hair, urging it to change back to a normal colour. The third year girl with him gave him a funny look when he did it but he didn't bother explaining. He was still bubbling with anger but curiosity over the urgent matter that Professor Longbottom wanted him for got the better of him.

"Teddy," Longbottom said seriously when he entered his office. "Harry has been hurt – nothing life threatening. Merlin knows he's been in worse situations," he said quickly noticing Teddy's reaction. "He's asked for you to return home until Sunday evening. I've arranged a Floo from my office."

"But why does he want me there?" Teddy asked. Worry had taken over anger. Harry got injured all the time but he never made a fuss about it. There was something else happening.

"Harry will explain to you," Longbottom said, not meeting his eye. "Come on. Your case will be waiting for you when you arrive."

Teddy stepped into the fireplace in Longbottom's office, took a pinch of Floo powder and through it into the green flames.

The familiar sensation of travelling by Floo took over Teddy's thoughts as he whizzed by other fireplaces. Eventually he slowed down and fell out of the fireplace rather ungracefully.

"TEDDY!" excited voices squealed as Teddy found himself being tackled by two young boys. He allowed the two boys to climb on him and talk rapidly at him, leaving no opportunity to answer their questions.

"Alright boys, get off him. Let him stand up." Ginny has just entered the room holding baby Lily in her arms. James and Albus listened to their mother and left Teddy alone for long enough to let him stand up.

"Hi Teddy," Ginny said wrapping one arm around him while still holding Lily in the other. "We've missed you so much around here."

"I've missed you too, Ginny," Teddy grinned. "And you too Lily," he said tickling the baby in Ginny's arms causing her to squirm and giggle.

"Teddy, we have to tell you something important," James said seriously. "We were in the garden and we found and gnome and now he's our pet!" Teddy feigned a look of shock and awe for James and Al's benefit.

"James, I already said you couldn't keep him in that box. It's inhumane," Harry said wearily, entering the room, limping.

"But Dad, Freddie has a pet gnome," James whined.

"I can guarantee you that he doesn't, James," Ginny sighed.

Teddy took a good look at Harry as the battle over the gnome raged between Ginny and James. He looked bad. The side of his face was red and shiny looking, as if the skin was exposed. Although he was wearing a t-shirt, Teddy could see that his arm was covered in thick bandages leaving only his finger uncovered to allow him to hold a wand. The fingers that were on display were black and charred looking.

"Hey, Ted," Harry said hugging him with his unbandaged arm.

"What happened?" Teddy asked.

Harry smiled. "Bit of an accident at work. Nothing major." Teddy caught sight of Ginny giving Harry a fierce look, hinting that it was something major.

"We'll talk later," he said quietly. Teddy nodded.

"It's the full-moon, Teddy, how are you feeling?" Ginny asked kindly. Teddy shrugged. "Tired, I guess. It's still early". Ginny nodded knowingly. It was nice to be back around people who knew what he was going through.

"Sit down, make yourself comfortable. I'll make some tea." She put Lily down on the couch next to Harry and Teddy flopped down on his other side.

Teddy allowed himself to momentarily enjoy the peace of being back in his second home, surrounded by the people he loved.

The morning passed quite enjoyably without incident. Teddy chatted about his friends and classes at Hogwarts, with Ginny and Harry retelling some of their happy memories from the castle. He played with James and Al and entertained Lily by morphing his face. It was an ordinary, relaxing morning at the Potter's, like a morning he had had hundreds of times before. However, there was a lot that wasn't being said. Anytime Teddy mentioned Harry's injury he would firmly tell him they would talk about it later. Teddy also avoided talking about his encounter with Farrow that morning. He didn't want Harry to get mad at him for disrespecting a teacher. That too became a topic they would talk about later.

Teddy had spent much of the afternoon sleeping before the moon rose. It was a relief not to have to attempt to stay awake for classes or to keep up appearances of normalcy for his classmates.

Harry and Teddy were not alone until that evening. Ginny had left to put the kids to bed leaving Harry and Teddy to talk.

"So, what happened?" Teddy asked as soon as Ginny left with Lily.

"Quick into it, eh Ted?" Harry grinned. Teddy didn't smile.

Harry let out a breath. "Fiendfyre, do you know what that is?" Teddy shook his head.

"It's fire that can't be put out. Very dark magic. I blasted through a door that had been cursed with it and got burned." Harry was very blunt in the manner in which he explained his injury. Teddy knew Harry well enough to know that he spoke like that when he was attempting to hide the extent of the issue.

"Will you be able to heal if it's dark magic?" Teddy asked thinking of Harry's infamous lightning bolt scar. A curse scar caused by dark magic that will never disappear.

"Thankfully my face and legs will heal with no scarring within a week with a certain potion," he gestured towards the raw looking skin stretching from his temples to his chin. "My arm, however…" He trailed off and seemed to be considering something.

"You know I like to be as honest as possible with you." Teddy nodded, wondering where this was going. He hesitated. "I haven't shown James and Al this, I think it would scare them, but you're older. And brave," he grinned. Harry started peeling back his bandages. As they unravelled, it struck Teddy how many layers were covering his injury. He was jolted from his thoughts as Harry took off the last layer releasing a burst of flames. Teddy jumped back.

"Fiendfyre is very difficult to put out," he explained. "Until the Healers find a way to put it out, I'm numbed from my shoulder down and wrapped in fireproof dressings." He began rewrapping his arm, the flames hidden beneath the dressings.

"Blimey, Harry," Teddy gasped. "I was not expecting that."

"Until they can put it out, I'm off duty," he said grimly. "Well, I'm out of the field."

"There's Aurors stationed at Hogwarts," Teddy said suddenly remembering.

Harry nodded. "I ordered them to be there. Do you know why?" Harry was looking at Teddy intently, as if hoping he would know why.

"It's the full-moon," Teddy said quietly. "Greyback…" He trailed off and Harry nodded sombrely.

"Greyback is dangerous. He prides himself on the number of people he has bitten. During the war, he even began attacking people when it wasn't the full moon. Bill was one of them." Teddy thought of Bill's scarred face. He had known he had been attacked by a werewolf and wasn't surprised to learn that it had been Greyback.

"He bit my dad."

Harry was silent, carefully surveying Teddy who was refusing to make eye contact.

"Yes, he did. But the Auror department is going to catch him before he attacks. We have leads." He was grateful that Harry hadn't asked him how he knew that fact.

Teddy nodded slowly. "I hate Greyback. He's the one who gives a bad name to werewolves and…" He trailed off.

"What is it, Teddy?" Harry asked. Concern was dripping from his voice. Teddy hesitated. He hadn't wanted to speak to Harry about Farrow but the incident that day had hit a nerve.

Teddy told Harry the whole story of Professor Farrow. From the snide comments about his parentage to his outright prejudice and discrimination towards werewolves. He reached the part of the story about his outburst. Expecting Harry to be angry at him, he was surprised at his reaction.

"I'm proud of you, Teddy." He was taken aback.

"But I argued with a Professor."

"You were standing up for your beliefs. You were defending your father, yourself and the entire werewolf community in front of your entire class. That is admirable. I don't think I would have had the courage or the empathy to do that at your age."

Teddy managed a smile. "Fionn and Chloe and both muggle-born. Merlin, half my year is muggle-born. Everything they know about the wizarding world they're learning through what our teachers are saying. I don't think it's right for a Professor to be teaching them lies."

"I agree, Teddy. It's not right, but standing up for werewolves like you did will be remembered. Even if you convince your friends that werewolves aren't monsters, that is two more people who won't continue with hatred."

"What about Farrow?"

"I'm going to talk to the school board. Farrow was hired after the war based on connections. Clearly his personal beliefs are getting in the way of his teaching. Neville always said he was a prat anyway. Sometimes being the Boy-Who-Lived has advantages." Harry said bitterly.

The moon had risen, Teddy could feel every bone and muscle in his body aching. He groaned and lay back on the couch.

Harry relaxed back onto the couch next to him. "What do you want to do tonight, Ted? Exploding Snap? Wizard's Chess? We've got a long night ahead of us."

Teddy smiled. "Are you sure you want to stay up with me? I mean, you're injured. You probably need rest."

"It's difficult to sleep when your arm is on fire," Harry laughed. "We haven't spent the full-moon together in months. I miss the time together."

Teddy grinned widely. The full-moon was always much more tolerable when he had Harry to distract him.

The sun had risen, fighting away the last rays of the moon. Harry watched as Teddy's body finally relaxed and he fell asleep, Wizard's Chess game abandoned on the coffee table between them. He put a blanket around his godson and watched him sleep for a minute, his hair shifting colours in his sleep.

Harry walked into his bedroom rubbing his eyes. He would hopefully get a few hours sleep before any of the kids came in.

"How's Teddy?" Ginny asked as Harry climbed into bed next to her.

"The moon's gone down, he's sleeping."

"Any word about Greyback?"

"It doesn't look like he attacked anyone. There's been no reports or sightings." He paused. "I didn't tell Teddy everything. I couldn't bring myself to tell him he was the target."

Ginny turned over and looked at Harry.

"You did the right thing. It doesn't help him to know that Greyback is after him." Harry nodded but couldn't help the feelings of guilt. Hadn't he always wished that somebody would be truthful with him?

He had naively thought that Teddy's time at Hogwarts would be problem free. He had hoped that his biggest worries would be studying for exams or writing essays for class. He wanted him to have a normal Hogwarts experience. Despite his hopes, evil remained in the world and it permeated the walls of Hogwarts.

Harry looked back on his own years in Hogwarts with rose-tinted glasses. Admittedly, he hadn't had a normal experience, Voldemort had made sure of that. Perhaps because his school life had been so tainted by Voldemort's ascent to power that he had ignored the fact that hardship existed in smaller forms.

Teddy was dealing with prejudice, the likes of which he had been shielded from for his entire young life. Harry had always made sure that Teddy knew what an amazing man Remus had been. The fact that he was a werewolf was inconsequential. He had come to realise that this had swayed Teddy's perception of how the rest of the world viewed werewolves. He had failed to prepare him for prejudice and discrimination based on what his father was.

Remus has known this would happen but Harry had been stupidly optimistic with the world. He could never comprehend how someone could judge Teddy for something like that. Teddy, the funny, intelligent, caring, thoughtful boy that Harry had helped to raise didn't deserve to be treated like that.

He would ensure that Farrow never taught at Hogwarts again. As much as he didn't like to use his fame, Harry could have him fired in the wave of a wand. He would do it for Teddy.

The weekend passed in a blur and Teddy had enjoyed it so much that he was disappointed when Sunday evening came and he had to Floo back to Hogwarts. His Gran had come over the day after the full-moon and Teddy had spent the rest of the weekend surrounded by his favourite people.

Teddy had been enjoying himself so thoroughly that he had almost forgotten about the incident in Farrow's class the morning he left. "Don't worry about Friday," Harry said obviously noticing Teddy's worry. "You might get a few looks but the people who matter won't treat you differently. It will blow over."

"What about Farrow?" Teddy asked quietly. Harry put his hands on both of Teddy's shoulders and looked him directly in the eyes.

"You don't have to worry about Farrow," Harry said seriously. Teddy nodded, his worries dissipating. Harry had the ability to make him feel safe when the rest of the world was falling apart. He hugged him tightly before getting into the Floo and returning to Hogwarts.

He was reminded about the incident in full force on Sunday evening when he walked into the Gryffindor common room. All eyes swivelled towards him as he climbed through the portrait hole. Teddy walked quickly across the common room, planning on heading straight for the dormitory but was stopped by Fionn.

"Oi, Teddy! Over here, mate."

With all eyes on him it would have been awkward to keep walking towards the dormitory. Teddy hesitated before joining Fionn, Chloe and Amina.

"Where've you been, Teddy? There were rumours going around that you'd been expelled for hexing Professor Farrow," Chloe said rapidly.

"Expelled? Harry was in an accident at work, I went to see him," Teddy said with shock. "You were there. I didn't hex him, I just…"

"He was well out of order," Fionn said. "Bloody psycho talking about werewolves like that." He fell silent for a moment. "Look, Teddy, we had no idea your dad was a… y'know, werewolf. I didn't get what the big deal was but Amina explained some. I don't care, I think it's cool!"

Teddy smiled. He was relieved. He had known that Fionn wouldn't actually care but it was something that still kept him worrying.

"Yeah, Teddy, I didn't know either," Chloe said quietly, blue eyes looking at him intently. "I'm sorry I said horrible things about werewolves and how I was scared of them. I didn't understand what they were truly like. The only werewolf I'd heard of was Greyback and he's an escaped criminal." She looked at him anxiously as if he was about to snap at her.

"Thank you," Teddy said honestly. "I didn't deliberately keep it a secret. People know who my parents are in our world so I've never had to tell anyone before. I'm just happy that you don't believe the lies Farrow was spitting."

"He said more after you left," Amina said slowly. "He made out that you were taken out of class so you could get ready to transform."

"He said that?" Teddy was shocked. "The whole school thinks that I hexed Farrow then ran off for the full-moon. Oh, and that I got expelled." He slumped in the armchair. No wonder people were giving him strange looks – the rumours being spread about him were getting more and more out of hand.

"Pretty much, yeah. Loopy Lupin, they're calling you. Beware." Fionn said.

Teddy surprised himself and started laughing. Fionn, Chloe and Amina exchanged worried glances at Teddy's outbreak. His friends gradually joined in until they were all in hysterics.

"Enough about that, Teddy," Chloe said wiping tears from her eyes as they all calmed down from laughing. "When are we going to talk about the fact that you can change your hair colour?"

"Oh that," Teddy laughed, changing his hair turquoise to the amazement of his friends. "I guess all my secrets are out in the open now. There's my mystique gone."

"What mystique?" Fionn scoffed. "Let's be fair, Teddy, you were never very good at hiding the meta-whotsit thing. You come down for breakfast most mornings with blue streaks in your hair."

"And your eyes literally change colour as you're talking," added Amina.

"It's very distracting actually," Chloe admitted.

Teddy couldn't help but smile as his friends joked about his powers. No more secrets. He was going to stop hiding who he was and start sticking up for others like him. He would be proud of himself and make his parents proud.


	5. The New Professor

Despite his fellow Gryffindors understanding the full situation, the rest of the school still thought Teddy had been expelled for hexing Farrow, or had gone to join Greyback during the full-moon, or that he was completely insane. Stares followed him accompanied by whispers as he walked the corridors down to the Great Hall the following morning.

"Surely it's obvious by now that I'm not expelled," he said irritably.

"It will blow over," Amina said attempting to comfort him.

"The blue hair isn't really helping you stay unnoticed," added Chloe. "Don't get me wrong – I like it," she reassured him.

Teddy had decided that as part of his new pact with himself to stop hiding who he was, he wouldn't hide his metamorphmagus abilities. He had changed his hair to his favourite turquoise shade that morning and was planning on keeping it that way. It was the colour that felt the most him and was the one he had always kept when he was home and with family.

The gossip surrounding Teddy was quick to blow-over however, as that morning Hogwarts was shaken by an announcement from Professor McGonagall.

"Your attention, please," Professor McGonagall said, her voice booming above the noise of the students eating breakfast. It took several moments for the students to realise the headmistress was talking as it was almost unheard of for her to make an announcement over breakfast.

"I want to speak to you all before you read the claims in the Daily Prophet this morning," she began, eyes scanning the crowd.

"This weekend, one of our staff, Professor Farrow was involved in a protest that was not supported by the staff. Professor Farrow has made his views on a certain subject clear and in light of these views, we have asked Professor Farrow to resign from his position as Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher and to vacate the castle."

There was an explosion of noise as students reacted to the news.

"Good riddance to him," Teddy muttered to Fionn who nodded in agreement.

"Who will teach us now?" Chloe asked.

"Silence, please," McGonagall bellowed which quickly muted the hall, the students were eager to hear what she would say.

"We are of course working to replace Professor Farrow as soon as we can. In the meantime, Defence Against the Dark Arts classes will be put on hold." There was a cheer from around the hall at the prospect of free periods.

Professor McGonagall surveyed the students, allowing the noise to continue only momentarily before recapturing the students' attention.

"Many of you are too young to remember the war but I know that you have all been touched by it in some way or another. War stems from hatred and discrimination. Hogwarts School does not tolerate discrimination or prejudice in any form, whether this comes from students or our own staff. I want you all to remember this and remember that the only way forward from the tragedies of our past is through love and acceptance of one another's differences."

The silence in the Great Hall was noticeable. Many of the students were nodding seriously at Professor McGonagall's words. She looked across the room seriously then smiled.

"Alright, off you go to class."

Once the entire school found out that there was an article about what Farrow had done in the Daily Prophet, copies became very hard to come by. By that evening in the common room, Amina had managed to get her hands on a copy.

"Not very surprised about what he was protesting," she said throwing the paper down on the table between Teddy and Fionn who were attempting to write their essay for Transfiguration.

 _HOGWARTS PROFESSOR FIRED FOR INVOLVEMENT IN ANTI-WEREWOLF PROTEST_

 _Hogwarts Professor of Defence Against the Dark Arts, Thursten Farrow has been fired following his involvement in an anti-werewolf protest in the Ministry of Magic on Friday evening. The protest was against a proposed bill by Hermione Granger-Weasley of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement which will make it illegal for employers to discriminate against applicants on the basis of their werewolf status. The bill is one of many in a series of changes instigated by Ms Granger-Weasley in a fight to award equal rights to all magical beings._

 _Farrow, accompanied by several other anti-werewolf activists protested the bill on the night of the full-moon in a show of symbolism. The protest was quickly shut down and no charges were pressed against those protesting. However, Hogwarts School has taken matters into their own hands and ordered for the dismissal of Professor Farrow immediately. Headmistress Minerva McGonagall made the following statement:_

" _We at Hogwarts do not condone discrimination or prejudice from our staff. This blatant public show of discrimination from one of our own has shocked us immensely and it is with great sadness that we must insist on the resignation of Professor Farrow. We will not allow for the possibility that one of our teachers may pass their dangerous and unjust beliefs onto students."_

 _Hogwarts has long held a pro-werewolf stance due to the late Professor Albus Dumbledore's strong and lasting influence over the school. Dumbledore even went as far as hiring known werewolf, Remus Lupin, as Defence Against the Dark Arts professor in 1993. When his werewolf status was revealed, Lupin left the post immediately to discourage complaints towards Dumbledore. Lupin, an active member of the Order of the Phoenix tragically died a hero in the Battle of Hogwarts alongside his wife, Nymphadora Tonks._

 _More on Hermione Weasley's pro-werewolf legislation on page 13._

"Is that your dad?" Chloe asked quietly. She had leaned over his shoulder to read the article along with him.

Teddy nodded. It was always strange to see his parents' names written down, referring to the lives they had led before they died. He knew his dad had been the Defence professor – Harry's teacher, in fact. He had just never considered it in terms of being a scandal at the time, a brave and risky move based on trust from Albus Dumbledore.

"I wonder who the new professor will be?" Teddy asked, steering the conversation away from the article and his father.

"Well, I hope it takes a while, I'm liking the free time," Fionn said laying back on the couch.

By the end of the week the novelty of not having Defence classes was beginning to wear off just in time for Professor McGonagall's second announcement of the week. Students were to return to their scheduled Defence classes as the new Professor will be starting.

"Who is it?" a ballsy fifth year Gryffindor shouted up.

"You will find out in due time," McGonagall said calmly.

"We're first up with the new Professor!" Chloe said excitedly. "Defence first thing this morning."

Teddy made his way to Defence with his fellow Gryffindors – Christopher walked slowly behind the other four. He was still very standoffish with Teddy for reasons Teddy had no explanation for. As they walked, they discussed the possibility of who might be the new teacher.

When they arrived at the Defence classroom, the new teacher had yet to arrive. Teddy took a seat next to Fionn with Amina and Chloe sitting in front of them.

"Be careful you don't scare this one away too, Loopy," Castor Nott said as the Slytherins filed into the classroom.

"What are you talking about, Nott," Teddy said irritably. "You know why Farrow had to leave."

"And it had nothing to do with you, eh Loopy?" Nott had a smirk on his face as the Slytherins behind him sniggered. He raised his hands to his mouth and let out a wolf-like howl.

"Arr-arr-aroooooo!"

Teddy leapt from his seat and raised his wand, not that he knew a spell he could cast.

"Loopy's cracked again. His hair is gone mad!" jeered Nott.

"Sit down, please," a voice said from the back of the room. In the commotion, the class had failed to notice that their new Professor had entered the room. When they turned their heads, they were shocked by the figure standing there.

"Harry?"

"It's Professor Potter, Mr Lupin," Harry said seriously, keeping a straight face. He walked, or limped, to the top of the classroom. "Everyone please sit down. I do not officially start for another thirty seconds so we can forget about what was happening before I entered the room."

The class abruptly sat down, eyes staring intently at Harry. He surveyed the class and smiled slightly.

"Alright, let me introduce myself," he began. "My name is Harry Potter – er, Professor Potter to you lot. I'm Deputy Head Auror for the Ministry but due to a recent injury on the job, I'm on desk duty." He gestured towards his heavily bandaged arm and blackened fingers which could still be seen beneath his robes.

"Rather than working from the ministry, Professor McGonagall asked me to fill in the position of Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher for the next few months. All very last minute – only confirmed this morning. I haven't much experience teaching but I've seen a lot and I think I have a good idea about the best defensive magic that I can teach you at any level. Any questions?"

There was a moments silence before several hands shot up in the air. Harry looked pleasantly surprised at the level of interest shown.

"Uh… you first, Ms?" He pointed towards one of the Ravenclaw twin girls with long blonde hair in a high ponytail down her back.

"Forsythe, sir. Are you going to teach us how to defeat someone like You-Know-Who?" The class leaned forward with more intensity than had ever been seen before. Harry ran a hand through his hair looking mildly uncomfortable.

"Uh, not directly. I will teach you basic defensive spells that will protect you if you ever find yourselves in danger. Besides, there aren't any dark wizards like Voldemort anymore." Harry ignored the shocked gasps at the use of Voldemort's name.

Hands shot up across the room. Harry pointed at a small Hufflepuff boy who was so eager to ask a question he was nearly falling from his seat.

"How did you do it? Will you tell us?"

Teddy knew that Harry hated this line of questioning. The exact details of how Voldemort was defeated for good were never revealed to the public. Teddy had asked on multiple occasions, but Harry had said that four people in the world knew the full story and he was planning on keeping it that way.

"With a lot of luck and help from other people," Harry said. His generic answer that he gave to the press when asked this question. Hands shot up again. Harry looked perturbed.

"Does anyone have questions about anything other than Voldemort?" Yet again, a shocked gasp resounded across the room at the mention of Voldemort's name. Harry looked un-phased by the effect of the word. All hands that were raised went down except for one.

"Yes," Harry smiled to the Ravenclaw boy with his hand raised.

"What kind of dark magic injured your hand?"

Again, all eyes were staring attentively at Harry. He looked across the room and surveyed the attentive students. "Fiendfyre," he answered after a pause. "I blasted open a door that had been cursed and burned myself in the blaze. Can anyone tell me what Fiendfyre is?"

He had clearly decided to use their questions in an educational manner rather than being annoyed by personal questions. Teddy assumed that it would difficult to hide the cause of his injury and understood his reasoning to be upfront. Harry tactically gave enough information about his injury without revealing anything about the case. Smart move.

Surprisingly, Amina was the only person to raise her hand.

"Yes, Ms?"

"Shafiq, Sir. Amina Shafiq." Harry nodded in encouragement. "It's very dark magic. The fire is more powerful than a normal fire and once cast it cannot be put out by water or normal spells. It is attracted to living targets and once attached to a target it is extremely difficult to put out."

"Excellent, Amina! Ten points to Gryffindor."

Amina smiled and blushed slightly.

Harry began the class once he was assured that there were no more questions. It was a rather interesting lesson based on the concepts behind disarming an opponent. Once the lesson was over, Teddy approached Harry after telling his friends he would catch up with them in History of Magic.

"Alright, Ted?" Harry said as Teddy approached him.

"No more Mr Lupin, then Professor Potter?" Teddy grinned. Harry laughed.

"I couldn't play favourites straight away, Teddy." His expression turned more serious. "What was that about, what I walked in on?"

Teddy shuffled uncomfortably. "It was nothing… Forget it."

"Your hair was bright red, dead giveaway."

"Nott was just saying some stuff. I can handle it." Harry looked at Teddy appraisingly. He feared he was going to push him for an explanation but Teddy abruptly changed the subject.

"So, when were you going to tell me you're the new Defence teacher?"

"Like I said, it was very last minute. McGonagall confirmed it with me this morning." He briefly paused. "Are you okay with this? I should have spoken to you first."

Teddy thought for a moment. Was he okay with having Harry as a Professor? It would be nice to have a familiar face around and this way he would be able to spend more time with Harry and speak to him whenever he wanted. Not to mention he thought that Harry was going to be a much better Defence teacher than Farrow.

"Yeah, of course! It's going to be great having you around the castle." Harry smiled and appeared relieved.

"What about Ginny and the kids?" He knew that Hogwarts professors generally lived in the castle.

"I'll be going home every evening like Neville does. He's going to show me some spell so I can be home and still know if someone is knocking at the office door. I've applied for a permanent Floo connection to be installed in my office so I can go back to Ginny and the kids whenever."

"I just never thought you'd leave your job." Harry loved being an Auror. The Weasleys often joked that Harry would be fighting dark wizards when he was one hundred.

"I'm still an Auror," Harry explained. "I'm managing my team and having them report to me just as often, I just can't be out in the action. It's perfect timing really. I never would have been able to take this job if it wasn't for this bloody injury."

"Is it still… you know. On fire?" Teddy grimaced at the thought.

"I'm afraid so. I tried to convince the Ministry that it wasn't a liability but they argued that I couldn't be out on the field and burst into flames. Honestly, I don't know why people keep saying I'm going to do that," he said bitterly.

"You should go to class, Teddy. We'll be seeing a lot more of each other. And change your hair, as your Professor, I think I need to tell you that it's against uniform policy."

Teddy grinned and changed his hair to its natural sandy blonde. Once he left the room he quickly changed it back to turquoise.

By lunch, the entire school knew that Harry Potter was the new Defence Professor. Not for the first time, Teddy was struck by Harry's fame and influence. He knew that Harry was possibly the most famous wizard in Britain, perhaps the world. However, in Teddy's eyes he was simply his godfather; a man who had done great things but was so much more to Teddy than that. He was his father figure, the person that taught him to ride a broom, who was honest with him about every situation. He was the awkward, funny, caring person that Teddy had known for his entire life.

Harry arriving at Hogwarts had once again alerted Teddy to his fame. Harry was an immensely private person and did his best to avoid crowds and never spoke to the press unless it was to make a statement on behalf of the Auror department. Teddy knew that Harry hated his fame and would give anything to be anonymous, particularly given the reasons in which he gained his notoriety.

When Harry walked into the Great Hall for lunch, the entire school turned to look at him. Harry simply nodded and walked towards the staff table with purpose, taking a seat at the end of the table next to Hagrid.

"He's really very modest," Chloe said in a dazed voice staring at the staff table. "Of course, I'd heard about what he's done but it was only today when I really researched it." She sighed. "He's so brave. You're so lucky, Teddy. He must have told you so many interesting stories."

"I suppose so," Teddy said.

"Is it true that he actually died? That he walked to his death a threw himself in front of You-Know-Who's curse to save the world." She was staring eagerly at Teddy now.

"Er…" Had Harry actually died? He had heard so many stories about the war but so few from Harry himself that he wasn't always entirely sure what was truth and what was fiction.

"And did he really break into Gringott's and escape on a dragon?"

"Oh yeah, that did happen." It was one of Teddy's favourite stories – Ron told the story in a particularly humorous way.

"Rita Skeeter never said why he did that though, do you know?"

"Hang on, you're reading Rita Skeeter?"

Chloe nodded eagerly. "She said she's a close, personal friend of Professor Potter's and that she knew him before he even started Hogwarts."

"That's a load of rubbish, Chlo," Teddy said, watching her face fall. "Harry hates Rita Skeeter, most of what she writes is a lie. That biography you're reading is unauthorised," he said pointing to the tiny font on the cover which stated as such.

"So she's hasn't known him since he was a child?"

"Blimey, no. Harry was raised by muggles, he didn't even know he was a wizard until he was eleven."

"Really?" Fionn asked excitedly. "There's hope for us all. If he can do everything he did without knowing about magic maybe we can be great too."

"Did you know he was going to be our Professor, Teddy?" Chloe asked.

Teddy shook his head. "I found out the same time you did."

In all the excitement of a Harry Potter becoming a Hogwarts Professor, certain events of the previous full-moon had gone under the press' radar – for once Harry was happy that his fame had distracted the press from more serious matters.

While the immediate aftermath of the full moon has yielded no trouble for the Auror office, within a few days a muggle case was brought to their attention.

A man had been brutally murdered in a small town in Yorkshire. His throat was ripped out and the muggle press were calling it the work of a deranged killer. The Auror's knew better. It was undoubtedly the work of a werewolf.

When the Auror department had began to investigate alongside the muggle police, they discovered something shocking – the victim wasn't the first to be killed in such a manner. The previous month, a similar killing had occurred miles away in Somerset. The muggle police thought they may be dealing with a serial killer – the Aurors thought that it was Greyback.

Once he was finished his final class of the day (fifth year Gryffindors and Slytherins – a rowdy bunch with more questions about Voldemort than he could defer) Harry flooed directly to his Ministry office.

"Oi, oi, Professor," Ron greeted him. He was sitting in Harry's desk with his feet on the table. "How was the first day?"

"As expected," Harry said, shifting Ron's feet from the table. "Nothing but questions about Voldemort."

"They'll get used to you eventually," Ron reassured him. "Especially once they realise you're not really all you're cracked up to be."

"What's been happening here today?" Harry asked, getting straight to the point. He was exhausted and wanted nothing more than to get home to Ginny and the kids.

"I have an update on the muggle," Ron said, understanding instantly what Harry wanted to know. "Turns out, it wasn't Greyback."

"How can that be?" Harry countered. They had all been convinced that it had been Greyback. There hadn't been any werewolf attacks in years and there had been two since he had escaped from Azkaban – it made perfect sense. "All other known werewolves are under surveillance."

Harry had initially shunned the idea of putting surveillance on all werewolves during the full-moon. It had seemed dehumanising to him – as if they couldn't be trusted to not attack anyone. However, werewolf fear was at an all time high since Greyback had escaped and the Ministry was under pressure to appear as though they were controlling the werewolf population during the full moon. Hermione, Head of the Department of Magical Law, had agreed to support the initiative under one condition – all werewolves would be placed under surveillance during the full moon only once they were given free access to Wolfsbane during the full moon. Free Wolfsbane had been a corner that Hermione had been fighting for years as it created a classist barrier to receiving the life-saving potion. Werewolves around the country had considered it to be a fantastic idea and so surveillance had been introduced.

"There's your answer. We reckon it's an unknown werewolf – somebody who never reported that they'd been bitten. If they'd checked into Mungo's at any point, we'd know."

"I can't say I blame them, keeping it to themselves," Harry said bitterly. If it wasn't for the need for medical attention, Harry believed that more werewolves would be unknown. Witches and wizards would do anything to keep their werewolf status under wraps, even if it meant foregoing medical attention.

"Well, whoever it is killed a muggle."

"When can we see the first victim's body? We'll need to check if the bite marks match Greyback."

"No update on that," Ron sighed.

"Have the muggles police told the family yet?" Harry asked.

"Funny thing about that – they can't find the wife. They're saying she's likely done a runner. She was their prime suspect until we intervened."

"Shouldn't we be concerned? What if the werewolf has her, she could be dead?"

Ron shook his head. "They suspected her, so they began tracking her. Apparently, she's been using her electric card thing that takes gold out of her bank vault – honestly don't know how the muggles come up with these things."

"So, she's alive. Perhaps we should try track her down ourselves? Her husband might have gotten into something nasty with the werewolf who killed him. It might give us some clues."

"I'll get on it first thing in the morning," Ron said.

"Bring Brislowe, the trainee," Harry advised. "She's muggle born, she'll make you look more normal."

Ron opened his mouth to protest but decided against it. Despite having muggle in-laws, Ron still hadn't learnt how to speak to muggles in a believable manner. Instead he grinned at Harry.

"Right you are, Professor," he joked.

"Don't think I'll get used to that anytime soon," Harry said heading towards the fireplace.

"Where are you off to now?" Ron asked.

"It's my first evening as a Hogwarts Professor, I can't miss dinner," Harry said with a smile. Despite the stress that having a dual job was ultimately going to cause him, he was relishing the fact that he could once again enjoy certain aspects of the place that he considered his first real home.

 **AN: Thanks to everyone who has followed and favourited this story. I'd love some feedback on what aspects you think are working? Should I do more from Harry's point of view of keep it to Teddy? I really would love some reviews!**

 **Also, just a note on Canon Compliance - this story is canon compliant with regards to the seven books and the Weasley family tree that JK Rowling created. I didn't like Cursed Child so I am choosing to ignore it. I have taken other aspects that she has said on Twitter and in interviews and incorporated them but I have also ignored some - such as Teddy being a Hufflepuff. The Teddy that I am writing and who I have imagined is a Gryffindor and it will become important later on that he is.**


	6. Commotion in the Castle

As the weeks progressed, Harry began to settle into his dual-role as Hogwarts Professor and Deputy Head Auror in charge of the hunt for Fenrir Greyback. In truth, his position at Hogwarts helped him to hunt Greyback. All sources still indicated that his goal was to target students – in particular, Teddy. Other than the increased Auror presence during the full moon, students were yet to realise the near constant Aurors that were patrolling the grounds. Harry had them trained well.

Friday afternoon, the fire in Harry's office lit up to reveal his wife's face.

"Harry, I need you to come home now," she said urgently.

"What's wrong?" He had fallen to his knees in an effort to scramble towards the fire.

"Just come quickly."

Harry needed no further guidance. Once Ginny's face disappeared from the fire, he stepped inside and Flooed home. Harry fell out of the fire expecting to see a catastrophic scene in front of him. His mind had thought the worst possible outcomes – his kids were injured; escaped Death Eaters had broken into his home; Greyback was attacking his children; Voldemort was back. However, when Harry arrived in his house he was faced with something very different.

"Dada," baby Lily cooed from her baby seat, kicking her legs in excitement of seeing her father. Harry picked her up quickly before progressing through the rest of the house, his wand at the ready. The house was silent and nothing appeared to be out of order – it was nearly too silent. Did he not have two young sons?

BANG.

Screams.

Harry ran towards the source of the noise, taking two steps at a time, Lily bouncing on his hip. He pushed open the door to the boys' room and pointed his wand at whoever was attacking his children.

James and Albus were sitting cross legged on their bedroom floor, a game of exploding snap between them. Both boys looked up when Harry burst into the room.

"Hi, Dad," James said, confused as to why his father was pointing his wand at him. "What's wrong?"

"I thought I heard a scream?"

"Yeah, Al screamed when 'Splodin' Snap 'sploded. He's a cry-baby."

"I'm noooot," wailed Albus.

"Boys stop arguing, please. I'm sick of telling you this." Ginny had entered the room. She turned and looked at Harry after James crossed his arms angrily, bottom lip pouting.

"Why are you pointing your wand at them?" she asked turning to Harry.

"I thought… You said – where's the danger?" Harry spluttered. Ginny looked positively confused.

"Danger? You're turning into Mad-Eye."

"Why did you tell me to come home?"

Ginny's face broke into a grin. "I need you to watch the kids this afternoon. The Brazilian National Quidditch team are in Britain and they've agreed to give me an exclusive interview. This is a big deal for me – they've agreed to talk about the dragon fire scandal!"

"That's great, Gin," Harry said, leaning in to kiss her, ignoring the groans and fake retching noises James was making.

"Can you watch them? You have Friday afternoons free, right?"

"Yeah, of course."

The next half an hour passed without incident – possibly a record in the Potter household. James and Albus were happily playing dragon tamers, their favourite game since Charlie had last visited. Lily had fallen asleep lying across Harry's lap. He was feeling rather peaceful as he stroked Lily's hair and watched the rise and fall of her sleeping body.

As usual, the peace and tranquillity of the moment quickly disappeared with the arrival of a familiar Patronus in the form of a Jack Russell terrier.

"Harry, Jenkins has left his post. The forest is unguarded. We need you to assign someone new there. Richards or Taylor maybe – whoever his number two is. It's all on that board of yours." Ron's voice boomed from the mouth of the Jack Russell, waking Lily in the process. Lily began to cry.

Harry groaned. The enchanted board which alerted all members of the team to changes in their positions was in his office at Hogwarts. It had seemed genius at the time – the board operated in a similar way to the Marauder's Map by showing the location of each member of his team in Hogwarts. In addition, Harry could make changes to the scheduling and positions of his team using the board and they would be alerted. Not much help to him when he wasn't in his office. He had to act fast.

"Alright you lot, we're going to dad's office. Get your shoes on," Harry said, scooping up Lily.

"We're really going to Hogwarts?" James asked excitedly, his face fixed in an expression of shock.

"Only into my office for a few minutes. We'll Floo there. Come on." James and Albus immediately jumped up. James began whooping and Albus followed suit.

Flooing with children was always difficult, especially when he was outnumbered three to one. He made James and Albus wrap themselves around one leg each while he held Lily. He grabbed a handful of Floo powder.

"Alright on the count of three… One, two, three. Potter's Office, Hogwarts!" With a tight squeeze and a whoosh, Harry arrived into what would have been the living quarters of his office with his children in tow. James and Albus immediately began running around his office.

"I want you two to sit over there," he said gesturing towards the large couch next to the fireplace in the office. "If either of you misbehaves in any way I will be telling your mother and I will let her punish you however she wants." James and Albus nodded seriously and sat onto the couch. They weren't afraid of any punishment Harry would give, they knew he was too soft with them. Ginny however was a force to be reckoned with. She had learned how to strike fear into her children in a way Harry had only seen done by Mrs Weasley. Like mother, like daughter.

Confident in the knowledge that his children were afraid of their mother, Harry went from the living quarters into the main area of his office with Lily. He quickly made his way towards his planning board and took a look. As Ron had suspected, Taylor was Jenkins' number two. He quickly rearranged the board and cast the spell to alert his team. He sent a Patronus back to Ron to thank him and let him know the situation had been resolved.

Having left his two sons alone in the next room for no more than five minutes, Harry was eager to get back to them before the threat of their mother's wrath wore off. He was about to go into them and take them home when there was a knock at his office door.

Cursing under his breath, Harry attempted to put Lily down. As soon as he did so she began to cry. He quickly picked her back up, deciding that it was better to answer the door holding a child rather than having her scream in the background. The door knocked again and Harry rushed forward. He swung open the door to reveal Eleanor Long, an overly eager fifth year Ravenclaw.

"Professor Potter, I have some questions about the essay you assigned on – oh, is this a bad time?" Her eagerness had dissipated when as her eyes were drawn to the baby in Harry's arms. The last thing Harry needed now was students questioning him about essays. He hesitated before answering but was cut off by Eleanor launching into more questions.

"I also wanted to ask you about Patronus classes, as Ravenclaw prefect I have volunteered to organise the rota for our year. I want to talk to you about your availability so I can organise it quickly."

Harry looked at the girl's eager face and was reminded, not for the first time, of a young Hermione. It made it impossible for him to say no. Despite only taking the position to help with the Greyback case, he enjoyed being a teacher. He wanted his students to succeed and was happy that they would come to him outside of class hours with questions.

"Not a bad time, Eleanor," he said kindly, opening the door wider to allow her to step into his office. "We'll have to make it quick though, I'm in charge of my kids this afternoon so I only popped into my office briefly."

Eleanor nodded and walked into the office with a bounce in her step. "Your baby is so cute," she said cooing at Lily.

"This is Lily," he said as the baby gurgled back at Eleanor. "She'll be quiet while we speak, it's the other two we need to worry about." He glanced over at the back room in his office where he knew the boys were. While he couldn't see them, he could hear the murmurs of their voices – not raised voices and not silence so he was assured that, for the time being, they weren't causing trouble.

"Take a seat and let's get started."

Winter was beginning to set in across the Hogwarts grounds. Teddy had spent the last few hours of their Friday afternoon off hanging around the grounds with Fionn, Amina and Chloe. Chloe had begun to complain about the cold and they decided it was probably a good time to head towards the library to make a start on their weekend homework.

The entrance hall was busy, with many students walking in various destinations, making the most of their afternoon off. Amina and Chloe were talking animatedly about one of the Gryffindor chasers while Fionn muttered to Teddy about how they were spending too much time with girls. Teddy was laughing in agreement when he heard someone calling his name.

"TEDDY!"

All of the students walking through the entrance hall turned to look at the source of the squeals. Two small boys had barrelled towards Teddy and were wrapping their arms around his legs.

"James, Al! What are you doing here?" Teddy said in surprise. Most of the students around him had walked on but were still looking at him with interest. Fionn, Amina and Chloe stopped alongside Teddy and were looking at the two boys talking excitedly with amusement. "They're Harry's kids," he told them quickly.

"Mummy left and Daddy was minding us but he had to come to Hogwarts and we were being good but then we wanted to go and find Gryffindor tower but we didn't know the way and now we're lost but then we saw you and –"

"Does your Dad know where you are?" Teddy asked, cutting off James' babbled explanation. A guilty look spread across James' face as he gave Teddy a small smile.

"It was Al's idea too."

"It was not!" Albus said indignantly, tears welling in his big green eyes. "Jamie made me come but – but – we're – lost -" He began blubbering, unable to finish his sentence.

Teddy kneeled down and wrapped his arm around Albus in an attempt to cheer him up. "No need to worry, Al. You found me! Hey, you get to meet my friends now!" Teddy said in an attempt to distract him. "This is Fionn, Amina and Chloe."

Chloe bent down and opened her arms. "So nice to meet you boys!" Albus willingly hugged her. "We'll help you find your Dad." Albus nodded, still hugging Chloe.

"He likes you," Teddy said. Chloe smiled. "I'm used to being around kids."

"Well I'm not going back," James said grumpily, stamping his foot. "We didn't find Gryffindor."

"You can't get into Gryffindor tower, you're not even in Gryffindor," Teddy said attempting to reason with him. Unfortunately, reasoning with a five-year old never went down well.

"But I will be!"

"Well you don't know that yet."

"I do!"

"You don't."

"Do!"

"Ok, enough," Teddy said. He was falling into a silly brotherly argument the likes of which he often had with James. "We have to find your Dad, end of."

James pouted with his bottom lip stuck out. A glint appeared in his eye. "Do the nose first and then I'll go."

"Not now, Jamie," Teddy said glancing at his friends.

"Pweeease, Teddy," Albus said, tears gone from his face.

"I kind of want to see this nose too, Teddy," Fionn said with a smirk.

"Yeah, show us," Amina said joining in.

"Oh, alright then. But you have to promise that you'll come with me to find your Dad then." The two boys nodded eagerly.

Teddy screwed up his face and morphed his nose into a pig's snout. James and Albus cheered while his friends began hooting with laughter. He quickly changed his nose back to normal.

"Ready to go?"

"Teddy, I had no idea you could change your face too," Fionn said through peals of laughter.

"I told you I'm a metamorphmagus."

"How am I supposed to know what that is? I thought it was just hair."

"Never mind. Jamie, Al, let's get going." He grabbed James by the hand while Chloe held Albus' hand. Albus was chattering happily about dragons to Chloe who was reacting in mock-shock and feigning interest appropriately.

As they reached the second floor where Harry's office was located, they met him sprinting down the corridor holding Lily. He was looking very stressed and his hair was messier than usual.

"James! Albus!" Harry ran towards the boys and wrapped them both in a one armed hugged while holding Lily in the other arm. His look of relief quickly turned to anger.

"What in Merlin's name made you think it was a good idea to leave my office?" he said angrily. "I told you to stay there. Do you know how dangerous that was? You're lucky Teddy found you and not somebody else. I will be telling your mother and she can decide on the punishment."

"No, Daddy please don't tell her," James pleaded. Harry ignored him. He turned to Teddy and his friends.

"Thank you for bringing them here. Where did you find them?"

"They came up to me in entrance hall," Teddy explained. "Said they were looking for Gryffindor tower."

Harry shook his head. "I can't leave them alone for five minutes. Merlin knows what trouble they're going to get into when they're actually old enough to come here."

Harry brought Teddy and his friends back to his office with James, Albus and Lily. Harry gave them bottles of butterbeer. Amina and Chloe gushed over baby Lily while James was animatedly telling Fionn all about his plan to find Gryffindor tower while Albus tried to copy James' actions.

"I don't know what would have happened if they hadn't run into you, Ted," Harry said seriously.

Teddy shrugged. "There's not many kids running around the castle. Someone would have found them and brought them back to you."

"At least this gives me the opportunity to properly meet your friends," Harry said smiling towards them. "When you lot are in here, I'm not Professor Potter, I'm just Teddy's godfather Harry."

"That will take a bit of getting used to," Fionn said.

"How are you lot adjusting to Hogwarts? Teddy said you two are muggle born?"

Fionn and Chloe nodded. "Yeah it was a shock when I found out," Fionn said. "My parents had no idea magic existed and then they weren't too happy about me moving away for school, but they got used to the idea and now they think it's wicked. They think my brother and sister are magic now too."

"That's possible," Harry said. "It's likely that both of your parents had magical ancestors, however far back, and their combined genetics allowed for the magical abilities to be awakened in you."

"Huh, is that how it works?" Fionn asked, a strained expression on his face as he wrapped his head around it.

Harry shrugged. "My friend Hermione is muggle born and she tried explaining it to me. It's much more complicated than that but wizards don't typically care about genetics."

"They care about blood status though, don't they?" asked Chloe. Teddy looked at his friend. Chloe seemed rather serious. Was this something that she was concerned about? Harry looked at her appraisingly.

"Not anymore," he said firmly. "I assume you know that blood status was one of the reasons that Voldemort did what he did. Few people know that his own father was a muggle which is why he cared so much about it. The truth is, very few witches or wizards are truly pure-blood anymore. We'd die out if that was the case."

"Yeah, my dad's mum was a muggle, right Harry?" Teddy said.

Harry nodded. "And my mum was muggle-born."

Harry looked thoughtful for a moment. "Is someone giving you trouble, Chloe?" Harry asked suddenly concerned. "Hogwarts doesn't tolerate discrimination, so you can tell me."

Chloe shook her head. "I just heard that blood status is important, and I don't know my –" She stopped herself. "Nobody has said anything. I'm just curious."

Harry nodded but he did not look convinced.

"Harry, are you in there?" a voice called from the other room.

"Uncle Ron!" James yelled, running into the other room. Harry followed suit. He returned moments later with James in tow.

"Teddy, do you mind watching them for a few minutes? Ron needs to talk to me about a case."

"No problem," Teddy grinned, taking Lily from Harry.

James and Albus began chatting animatedly to Teddy and his friends. Teddy put Lily down but kept one eye on her. She has started walking and had a fondness for exploring places she shouldn't be. Within moments, Lily had made her way over to Harry's desk and had started pulling pieces of parchment down.

"Lily, stop!" Teddy ran and picked her up, Lily squirming in his arms as he did so. He was about to carry her back to the others when one of the pieces of parchment caught his eye.

 _Mr Potter,_

 _I am writing to you to inform you of a recent encounter I had with escaped convict Fenrir Greyback. I do not wish to reveal myself, but I feel that I have information that is crucial to your investigated._

 _Greyback found me shortly after he escaped from Azkaban. We have crossed paths in the past as I spent some time underground with other werewolves during the war. It was the safest option for me at the time, but I have long since left them._

 _Greyback wanted to recruit me to his new army. He plans on creating an army of wolves that will overthrow the current Ministry. He claims he has found a way to create a race of super-werewolves through select breeding. He believes that any children born to wolves possess extra strength. I believe that he searched for me specifically because my wife and I once conceived but tragically died during her pregnancy. Greyback was not to know about their fate so he came in search of my child._

 _I hope that this letter will help you in your investigation. Above all, I hope it will help protect the young Lupin boy._

 _Yours in solitude,_

 _T.R._

Teddy's hands were shaking when he finished the letter. What did it mean? Who was T.R? Was what he was saying the truth?

Teddy hastily carried Lily back to where his friends sat. As he did, Harry re-entered the room. Was he taking this letter seriously? Teddy had to trust that Harry was doing everything in his power to catch Greyback. He only wished that there was some way that he could help.

 **AN: This chapter serves as a bit of a filler and also a bit of fun with Harry's kids.**

 **It's been a while since I've updated this story! Unfortunately life got in the way and I haven't had very much free time to work on writing.**

 **Thank you to all who are following this story so far!**

 **I really do appreciate reviews. It is slightly unmotivating when it seems like nobody is engaging with the story so please do review.**

 **I am currently working on a prequel to this story from Harry and Andromeda's point of view. I don't want to start posting yet as it will give away some spoilers for this story but stay tuned!**


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